Body Time® History
About
Body Time® is a family owned retailer of locally produced personal care products. Body Time® has four product lines it markets through its retail stores and e-commerce platform: Body Time® Classics is a collection of premium skin care products that can be custom scented with any of our perfume oils or essential oils to produce products specifically tailored to our customer’s tastes. Many of these products have been customer favorites for over 40 years; Body Time® Botanicals is a collection of plant based skin care products that are made of superior ingredients including pure aromatherapy essential oils; Body Time® Men is a collection of skin care products (plant based and non plant based) that have been specially formulated for men. Body Time® created the original China Rain® in the 1970’s and it has become the company’s signature scent and is available in a variety of our Body Time® Classics products.
History
Body Time® began business as the original The Body Shop in 1970 on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California by sisters-in-law, Peggy Short and Jane Saunders. At the time, skin care products were produced and sold primarily by large cosmetic companies and the opportunity to buy artisan soaps and custom scented skin care products was extremely limited.
The two founders introduced several new concepts that set The Body Shop apart from the mainstream cosmetics industry. The products themselves were displayed in simple plastic bottles with minimal packaging and handwritten labels. The products were biodegradable and many of them emphasized natural ingredients. The Body Shop also featured a wide selection of concentrated perfume oils and essential oils which customers could use to make their own original perfumes and colognes or to have their lotions or body oils “custom scented” with their choice of fragrance. The Body Shop products were of the same or better quality as those of major cosmetic and skin care companies but were sold at much lower prices due to the lack of expensive advertising and packaging costs.
In 1987, the founders agreed to sell the U.S. rights to the name “The Body Shop” to Body Shop International (BSI), a British company. BSI had begun operating a very similar business in the U.K. in 1976 and had intentions to expand their operations globally, including in the U.S. In 1992, because of the sale of the name, the retail operations of the original The Body Shop were renamed Body Time®.
Body Time® continued to operate successfully in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1990’s. Its mail order business grew and transformed into an e-commerce business as the internet transformed how people communicated, received information and shopped. Manda Heron, daughter of Peggy Short (one of the founders of the original The Body Shop), operated Body Time® from 1998 until 2011. During this time Body Time® introduced its Body Time® Botanicals Line to meet the needs of its customers interested in “natural” products.
Today
In 2011, Manda Heron sold Body Time® to Al and Terra De Almeida. Terra, now the company president, became a devoted Body Time® customer when she moved to the Bay Area in 2000. Al, a Bay Area native and Cal graduate, knew of Body Time® from his years living in the area. They now operate the business together and they are committed to providing customers with quality skin care products and superior customer service. Body Time® is truly a family owned business and on any given day you can see one or more of their children helping out in the warehouse or in one of the retail stores.
While the ownership of Body Time® has changed, the company has remained committed to the ideals of its founders. Body Time® has always had an environmentally conscious policy of limiting product packaging and encouraging customers to recycle empty product containers. Today, Body Time® encourages recycling by offering a $1.00 discount to those customers who have their recycled product containers refilled at one of the retail stores. Body Time® remains committed to providing its customers with quality personal care products for a fraction of the price of the highly advertised products sold in many upscale department stores. Body Time® still offers its customers the opportunity to “custom scent” Body Time® products.
Body Time® practically created the specialty skin care retail business in 1970 and it has a rich and colorful history. Body Time’s future is also bright, as the new owners have been investing in new products, new stores and new company infrastructure. Body Time® has an incredibly loyal customer base and the company looks forward to serving them in the future.
