The Body Shop has unveiled its newly refurbished concept store in Westfield, Stratford this week, combining its activist heritage into a physical retail space.
The ethical beauty retailer said its refurbished store will provide a place for local residents to explore products, share ideas and discover how we can speak up and speak out against injustice together.
The Stratford store has been re-designed as a Workshop Store based on artisan workshops, with material usage kept to a minimum and responsible sourcing of those used.
Stratford is The Body Shop’s 37th workshop store in the UK and part of an expanding network, with twenty more stores set to open next year.
The store will also host an ACT area – a space where people can discover The Body Shop’s activist roots and how to campaign for social change on issues ranging from gender equality to fighting cosmetic animal testing.
Activism Hubs and Workshop Stores are designed to reflect the local communities they serve, and to be a space to bring to life issues and stories that are important to them.
In the Stratford store, the Activism Hub will help people get involved with The Body Shop and The British Youth Council’s joint campaign for Votes at 16 where together, they are highlighting the unfairness in the UK’s electoral system and calling for young people in the UK to receive full voting rights by 2024.
In addition to the dedicated activism focus, the Stratford store will feature a state-of-the-art Refill Station as part of the retailer’s mission to make refilling empty beauty bottles mainstream.
The Body Shop has 170 stores around the UK with Refill Stations, with another 105 stations to open before the end of 2022. Globally these stores have saved 477,700 bottles – equivalent to 10.3 tons.
Customers can purchase a refillable 300ml aluminium bottle and fill it up with shower gels, shampoos, conditioners and hand washes and in Stratford, these will be delivered via a conveyor belt design.
The Body Shop Managing Director UK & Ireland Maddie Smith said: “There are countless places to buy beauty products, but how many where you are encouraged to show up and be a part of the change? The launch of our workshops is a very practical mission: to change consumer behaviour. We want to bring people together to realise they are capable of making small changes that could benefit our communities and the planet.
“At our new Stratford store, we want people to get talking, get inspired and get active. We want our customers to have fun playing with our products but also have conversations about issues that affect them, helping us campaign to progress equality.”
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2022/09/the-body-shop-new-activism-focused-stratford/