"The urgency to establish a business pushed The Body Shop to be successful"
Not many women who gladly supported their husbands to leave for two years in an expedition while they were left back home to support two children. However Anita Roddick was not a regular woman.
The first thing Anita remembered was she was working in her parents’ café in Littlehampton, England. As a daughter of two Italian immigrants, she soon inherited their work ethic, which appeared like “employ children to work”. She did not think of any other things to do than spending his weekends on that café, later slept in the same bedroom along with her family because the other bedrooms were rented.
As a part of immigrant groups in a homogeny city, Anita was known as an outsider. At the age of 10, books about holocaust gave her an unforgettable impression and became interested in human rights and justice. She studied at a school for teachers and began teaching in public school, however a scholarship to teach in a kibbutz (a communal farm or residence) in Israel grew her interest to keep travelling and studying other cultures.
Her presence in kibbutz ended when Anita was fired because she was involved in a dispute. As a trial to Anita’s teaching ability, the incident released her from her lifetime responsibility. She took a long trip back home, asked for a ride across Israel and stayed in Paris and Switzerland for some time. She finally left her profession as a teacher for good and spent a year on a trip to Tahiti, New Caledonia, Australia, Madagascar, and finally South Africa, where she was kicked out of the country for visiting a jazz club on a “black night”.
Out of money and missed her home, she went back to England and fell in love with Gordon Roddick, a writer and a young poet who often visited her mother’s café which then became a bar. They got married after two years and had a daughter and another one in pregnancy. Gordon tried to earn his living from his painting and frame shop; however because things did not happen according their plan, he and Anita worked together in a business, bought an old house with eight bedrooms to make a bed and breakfast. Although they had spent weeks to develop their business, the lack of visitors on their city where they lived forced them to transform the house into a boarding house.
Looking for another source of income, Anita and Gordon thought about opening up a restaurant; influenced by Anita’s childhood experience, they decided to open up a café. The Paddington’s Restaurant was opened with healthy food on their menu. They made a $10.000 loan to the bank and started with local customers who never knew what quiche was. The locals were not that enthusiast. They did not go well on their first month. Almost went bankrupt, Gordon finally bought a toaster, frying pan, and began to serve steak, hamburger, and English chips. The business was growing well.
For three years, the restaurant had become the town’s favorite for its fried meals. However during those three years, they had to come home around 1 A.M and woke up very early. They did not have enough time to take care of their boarding house, especially when that business was not very profitable. They also felt worried that their daughters would become closer to their grandmother than to themselves.
Therefore Gordon had his own reason to pack his stuff. He was ready to go after his childhood dream: following the footsteps of a Swiss adventurer to travel 5300 miles from Buenos Aires to New York by riding a horse. Surprisingly, his wife, who also loved adventure, supported his idea. They sold their restaurant and their boarding house and searching for ideas of a small business that could support their family while Gordon was away and only required Anita to work from 9 to 5 so she would still have some time to spend with their children during the night.
Anita’s idea-a beauty shop which used natural ingredients was found when she was travelling around the world-was difficult to be accepted by the bank so they refused to give her a loan because Anita showed up with a Bob Dylan shirt and jeans, carrying two children. Gordon returned to the bank with her, forced Anita to wear a conservative work dress and typed an impressive business plan to be put in folders. Anita was upset, but it changed as soon as the bank wrote her a $4.000 check, which was used to buy the necessary ingredients and rent a small space to open up a shop in Brighton.
Having no training or experience, Anita established The Body Shop in 1976 with only 15 products. Based from her experience who often felt disappointed for not being able to buy a product in a small size or to get a tester out of her favorite beauty products, her shop offered five different sizes for each product-although later she admitted that the original purpose was to fill her shop so that it looked like as if it offered many products.
Environment friendly that became The Body Shop policy war originated from the financial situation at that time. Anita wrote, “I did not predict anything about loving the nature. At that time I could only think of one thing-to survive.” When the shop was opened, Anita used the cheapest bottle for the lotion and the ingredients which was the same plastic materials that hospitals used to collect urine sample. Since she did not have enough money to provide those bottles, she began refilling her customers’ bottles; this policy was supported by artists on her city and 2nd World War generation who liked to save a lot. The wall of the store was painted green as a symbol of the company’s commitment to recycle and preserve nature; at the beginning Anita chose that color only to cover up a spot on that wall.
Anita even did her last effort to maintain her shop by changing the opening of her shop into a public relation event. When two memorial services near her shop claimed that “The Body Shop” endangered their businesses, Anita gave unknown information to the local newspaper, which discussed the current situation and attracted the public a week before the shop was opened. Gordon had warned Anta before he went; if Anita could not earn $300 a week, she better closed her shop and joined her in South America. At the opening day of The Body Shop, Anita earned $130. Anita then decided that she did not have to pay for commercial as long as she became the owner of the shop.
By the time Gordon returned, Anita had opened her 2nd shop at the neighboring city. Gordon was amazed and came up with a plan to “self finance” more shops. Together they sold their franchises to interested owners. They used the money gathered from selling their franchises to add their product lines. In 1982, the couple managed to open two new shops every month. The Body Shop had spread throughout the country.
Besides placing the shop as the main brand in skin and body treatment, The Body Shop changed from not only a beauty shop but also became a foundation of political activities. The new publicly known company was established with a clear mission statement: “Dedicating our business for social and environmental changes.” The shop was one of the companies that did not do animal testing, and the window of their shops gave the impression of the benefit of a fair trade and high self confidence which were symbolized with shea butter and tea tree oil.
At present, the small shop in Brighton has grown into more than 2000 shops in 50 countries. At the beginning there were only 15 products; now the shop has more than 200 products. The woman once rejected from the bank had earned a business title from one university, a royal title, and a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order British Empire). The astonishing young woman who dared to resist a common woman’s expectations had turned into a mature figure by keeping her goals. Although Anita was no longer in charge of The Body Shop since 2002, she kept giving many creative advices to the company and shared many experiences that had inspired her. She found inspiration from a quote “A woman of late age cannot be stopped by the world’s pressure.” Furthermore, being unstoppable was one of the things that Anita mastered since a long time.
Not many women who gladly supported their husbands to leave for two years in an expedition while they were left back home to support two children. However Anita Roddick was not a regular woman.
The first thing Anita remembered was she was working in her parents’ café in Littlehampton, England. As a daughter of two Italian immigrants, she soon inherited their work ethic, which appeared like “employ children to work”. She did not think of any other things to do than spending his weekends on that café, later slept in the same bedroom along with her family because the other bedrooms were rented.
As a part of immigrant groups in a homogeny city, Anita was known as an outsider. At the age of 10, books about holocaust gave her an unforgettable impression and became interested in human rights and justice. She studied at a school for teachers and began teaching in public school, however a scholarship to teach in a kibbutz (a communal farm or residence) in Israel grew her interest to keep travelling and studying other cultures.Her presence in kibbutz ended when Anita was fired because she was involved in a dispute. As a trial to Anita’s teaching ability, the incident released her from her lifetime responsibility. She took a long trip back home, asked for a ride across Israel and stayed in Paris and Switzerland for some time. She finally left her profession as a teacher for good and spent a year on a trip to Tahiti, New Caledonia, Australia, Madagascar, and finally South Africa, where she was kicked out of the country for visiting a jazz club on a “black night”.
Out of money and missed her home, she went back to England and fell in love with Gordon Roddick, a writer and a young poet who often visited her mother’s café which then became a bar. They got married after two years and had a daughter and another one in pregnancy. Gordon tried to earn his living from his painting and frame shop; however because things did not happen according their plan, he and Anita worked together in a business, bought an old house with eight bedrooms to make a bed and breakfast. Although they had spent weeks to develop their business, the lack of visitors on their city where they lived forced them to transform the house into a boarding house.
Looking for another source of income, Anita and Gordon thought about opening up a restaurant; influenced by Anita’s childhood experience, they decided to open up a café. The Paddington’s Restaurant was opened with healthy food on their menu. They made a $10.000 loan to the bank and started with local customers who never knew what quiche was. The locals were not that enthusiast. They did not go well on their first month. Almost went bankrupt, Gordon finally bought a toaster, frying pan, and began to serve steak, hamburger, and English chips. The business was growing well.
For three years, the restaurant had become the town’s favorite for its fried meals. However during those three years, they had to come home around 1 A.M and woke up very early. They did not have enough time to take care of their boarding house, especially when that business was not very profitable. They also felt worried that their daughters would become closer to their grandmother than to themselves.
Therefore Gordon had his own reason to pack his stuff. He was ready to go after his childhood dream: following the footsteps of a Swiss adventurer to travel 5300 miles from Buenos Aires to New York by riding a horse. Surprisingly, his wife, who also loved adventure, supported his idea. They sold their restaurant and their boarding house and searching for ideas of a small business that could support their family while Gordon was away and only required Anita to work from 9 to 5 so she would still have some time to spend with their children during the night.
Anita’s idea-a beauty shop which used natural ingredients was found when she was travelling around the world-was difficult to be accepted by the bank so they refused to give her a loan because Anita showed up with a Bob Dylan shirt and jeans, carrying two children. Gordon returned to the bank with her, forced Anita to wear a conservative work dress and typed an impressive business plan to be put in folders. Anita was upset, but it changed as soon as the bank wrote her a $4.000 check, which was used to buy the necessary ingredients and rent a small space to open up a shop in Brighton.
Having no training or experience, Anita established The Body Shop in 1976 with only 15 products. Based from her experience who often felt disappointed for not being able to buy a product in a small size or to get a tester out of her favorite beauty products, her shop offered five different sizes for each product-although later she admitted that the original purpose was to fill her shop so that it looked like as if it offered many products.
Environment friendly that became The Body Shop policy war originated from the financial situation at that time. Anita wrote, “I did not predict anything about loving the nature. At that time I could only think of one thing-to survive.” When the shop was opened, Anita used the cheapest bottle for the lotion and the ingredients which was the same plastic materials that hospitals used to collect urine sample. Since she did not have enough money to provide those bottles, she began refilling her customers’ bottles; this policy was supported by artists on her city and 2nd World War generation who liked to save a lot. The wall of the store was painted green as a symbol of the company’s commitment to recycle and preserve nature; at the beginning Anita chose that color only to cover up a spot on that wall.
Anita even did her last effort to maintain her shop by changing the opening of her shop into a public relation event. When two memorial services near her shop claimed that “The Body Shop” endangered their businesses, Anita gave unknown information to the local newspaper, which discussed the current situation and attracted the public a week before the shop was opened. Gordon had warned Anta before he went; if Anita could not earn $300 a week, she better closed her shop and joined her in South America. At the opening day of The Body Shop, Anita earned $130. Anita then decided that she did not have to pay for commercial as long as she became the owner of the shop.
By the time Gordon returned, Anita had opened her 2nd shop at the neighboring city. Gordon was amazed and came up with a plan to “self finance” more shops. Together they sold their franchises to interested owners. They used the money gathered from selling their franchises to add their product lines. In 1982, the couple managed to open two new shops every month. The Body Shop had spread throughout the country.
Besides placing the shop as the main brand in skin and body treatment, The Body Shop changed from not only a beauty shop but also became a foundation of political activities. The new publicly known company was established with a clear mission statement: “Dedicating our business for social and environmental changes.” The shop was one of the companies that did not do animal testing, and the window of their shops gave the impression of the benefit of a fair trade and high self confidence which were symbolized with shea butter and tea tree oil.
At present, the small shop in Brighton has grown into more than 2000 shops in 50 countries. At the beginning there were only 15 products; now the shop has more than 200 products. The woman once rejected from the bank had earned a business title from one university, a royal title, and a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order British Empire). The astonishing young woman who dared to resist a common woman’s expectations had turned into a mature figure by keeping her goals. Although Anita was no longer in charge of The Body Shop since 2002, she kept giving many creative advices to the company and shared many experiences that had inspired her. She found inspiration from a quote “A woman of late age cannot be stopped by the world’s pressure.” Furthermore, being unstoppable was one of the things that Anita mastered since a long time.
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