LONDON — Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop cosmetics store chain, died Monday night after suffering a major brain hemorrhage, her family said. She was 64.
Ms. Roddick was dubbed the “Queen of Green” for her trailblazing environmentally friendly, humane business practices that made her a leader in her native England and around the world.
“Businesses have the power to do good,” Ms. Roddick wrote on the company’s website.
Ms. Roddick opened her first Body Shop store in 1976 in Brighton, southern England, before fair trade and eco-friendly businesses were fashionable.
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“She was so ahead of her time when it came to issues of how business could be done in different ways, not just profit motivated but taking into account environmental issues,” Mr. Sauven said.
“When you look at it today, and how every company claims to be green, she was living this decades ago,” he said.
Ms. Roddick, the daughter of Italian immigrants, said she opened her Brighton store with only modest hopes.
“I started The Body Shop simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters while my husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas,” Ms. Roddick wrote.
“I had no training or experience and my only business acumen was Gordon’s advice to take sales of 300 pounds a week,” she said.
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FB: When I was younger, I used to buy Body Shop products. But I find their products to smell a bit too strong/cloying like their vanilla, tea rose or satsuma perfumes and soaps. I did like their Banana shampoo however, maybe once Dove is done and over with, I’ll try out a bottle of their shampoos…
I really liked their packaging idea back then (bringing back the old bottle to be refilled), and all the cool things they had in the store, especially the scrubs. And it made me feel good to buy their products…..
