The French arm of the British cosmetics company The Body Shop reportedly sought a restraining order from a Paris commercial court on Tuesday, March 19, following The Body Shop UK’s February 13 administration. With the recent introduction of franchising, The Body Shop now has 260 employees throughout its 59 directly owned stores and 7 franchised locations in France.

Employees at The Body Shop have been worried about the procedure for weeks, but the company has not yet told FashionNetwork.com that it has triggered it. In late January, the German investment firm Aurelius—which acquired The Body Shop at the tail end of December 2023—announced its intention to pull out of twelve markets in Asia and Europe in an effort to revive the company.

After then, the cosmetics company went bankrupt in other countries, and who knows what the future holds for the French market. The Body Shop’s online store was temporarily suspended due to a decline in business at its French locations.

Aurelius appointed Martin Rivers as head of the The Body Shop brand in France on March 11, as per official records, after Hugues Laurençon and Andrew McCrea resigned as joint heads of the brand in France.

According to LSA’s reporting, the most recent development was shared with staff by Rivers during a conference call on Tuesday. The future of The Body Shop’s French subsidiary is uncertain; like the UK, the brand’s initial market, it could be liquidated or put into receivership, which would result in a reduction in the number of stores it operates.

Rivers reportedly brought up a plan to sell off all or portion of the brand’s French stores to BFM Business. Customer deliveries should resume partially, while The Body Shop’s French stores will stay open until the court hearing, according to BFM Business. The hearing is supposedly planned for early April.