The Body Shop is saved in Spain. After a 2024 in which it has announced the closure of half of its points of sale in the United States and bankruptcy in France, two of the company's own executives are saving it in the Iberian market.
Veneta Pektova, master franchisee in Bulgaria, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania, and Diego Ortiz de Zevallos, former general manager of The Body Shop in Spain, are now the new owners of the natural cosmetics company in the Iberian Peninsula and will lead the franchises in the Spanish and Portuguese market, where they entered almost 30 years ago.
The brand founded in England in 1976 will continue to operate with its 72 shops on the peninsula, 48 in Spain and 24 in Portugal, as well as being distributed in chains such as Druni, Xarig, Fund Grube, Perfumes Club, Marvimundo, Aromas y Perfumes y Cía and other perfumery and cosmetics chains. Since last July, the firm has been acquired by the private equity fund Auréa Holdings.
Petkova has extensive experience in the retail sector. In 2009 she led the arrival of the Spanish home textile brand Textura in Bulgaria and in 2015 she set up Duka in her country. With The Body Shop, she managed to bring the firm into Bulgaria, with eight shops, two in Albania, three in Kosovo and one in North Macedonia.