In the early 60's there was a company on shattuck avenue in Berkeley,
California called  The Body Shop. It was owned by a couple who
produced and sold natural beauty products for women. For several
years, I was a customer of this shop which was housed in a small
building that held a number of Berkeley entrepreneurs.I ended up
opening my own boutique in Los Angeles several years later and for a
period of time carried The Body Shop's products. It was a pleasant
surprise when I ran
into the products again some 25-30 years later. The really big
surprise was that these products were the supposed brainchild of a
British woman, who says  The Body
Shop is her idea which she had imported from England to America. Now
I know for a fact that products under The Body Shop I frequented in
the 1960's and 70's were created and
sold by a middle-aged couple in a small building owned by a collaborative of
60's hippy entrepreneurs in Berkeley. To do business in California the
couple  had to have had a
business license from the state of California and a sellers permit
from the city of Berkeley. I was involved with the company between the
years of 1968 thru 1973.    I had assumed this person had simply
bought the original business or was perhaps is the relative of one of
the original founder/owners.  Is this simply case of
coincidence? The new Body Shop's menu of products mimics the
menu of natural products from the 1960's company, I am enormously
curious how this has all happened.  I would love to see a biography of
the current owner and the company  I would appreciate if any
information on the California
company which was called THE BODY SHOP in the late 1960's and 1970s. 
I would also like a current business address
or even an email address for the current owner so that I might relate
this story to her.  I understand that she is a strong environmentalist
and the company is committed to products that are environmentally
safe.  This is simply a personal curiosity.
Thanks

Hi saabster,

There were two separate businesses named "The Body Shop," one in
California, and one in England.  The Body Shop you knew in California
was founded in 1970 by sisters-in-law Jane Saunders and Peggy Short. 
The English Body Shop was founded in 1976 by Anita Roddick.

An article by Jon Entine from the Toronto Globe and Mail's Report on
Business Magazine says that the English Body Shop's name, products,
and concepts were modeled on the California company's.  The Body Shop
International corporation denies these claims.  As one who has seen
both, you can judge this for yourself.

http://www.jonentine.com/articles/bodyflop.htm

In 1979, the founders divided the California company.  Ms. Saunders
and her daughters Ann and Kathy took the wholesale division, while Ms.
Short took the retail stores.

In 1987 or 1988, the California businesses sold the Body Shop name to
the English Body Shop, which wanted to expand in the United States.

Ms. Saunders and daughters are still in business as A.K.A. Saunders,
Inc., producing the TerraNova line of natural bath and body care
products.

http://www.terranovabody.com/about/

The California retail business is also still going under the name of
Body Time, with six stores, owned and managed by Ms. Short's daughter
Manda Heron.

http://www.bodytime.com/history.html

And, of course, The Body Shop International plc is still operating,
with stores in 50 countries and annual retail sales of £699,500,000,
according to the 2004 annual report.

http://www.thebodyshopinternational.com/web/tbsgl
http://www.thebodyshopinternational.com/epages/wizard/images/CLIENT81090596402356_lg.pdf

Shares of The Body Shop International are publicly traded on the
London Stock Exchange; there is no single owner.  The web site has a
contact page; you may or may not be interested in writing to a
corporation.

http://www.thebodyshopinternational.com/web/tbsgl/contact.jsp

My colleague Pinkfreud has given you a link to founder Dame Anita
Roddick's autobiographical note on her website.  The website's contact
page has an email address for Dame Anita.  If you register on the
site, you can also comment on entries in her weblog.

http://www.anitaroddick.com/contact.php
http://www.anitaroddick.com/index.php


Additional Links

A historical article about the Berkeley-based Body Shop from the
Berkeley Daily Planet
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?archiveDate=02-03-04&storyID=18201

A Timeline of Fashion notes the founding of the California Body Shop in 1970
http://www.timelines.ws/subjects/Fashion.HTML


Search Strategy

Search terms used included:

"body shop" natural products berkeley
"body shop" history products
"body shop" natural beauty berkeley
contact "anita roddick"
"body shop" short saunders roddick
"body shop" berkeley short saunders roddick


I hope this answer satisfies your curiosity.  If you need any further
information, please ask for a clarification, and I will see what I can
find.

Regards,

--efn

efn-ga,
This is brilliant work as usual and I thank you for such a quick
response to my request.

Anita Roddick says that she started The Body Shop in 1976. Here's a bit about her:

http://www.anitaroddick.com/aboutanita.php

Thanks for the comment, rating, and tip.