Bath and Body Works ~ Rant!!

By Wednesday, June 06, 2012 , , , , ,

So, well I am pissed off, let us just say that and get it out of the way.

Yep, Bath and Body Works has pissed me off and even may have lost me as a loyal customer all together.

I've like Bath and Body Works for some time now, even shop at the only Canadian outlet frequently and watched to go in a year from an awesome store filled with deals to a crappy and horribly disappointing place to visit. Heck I was a few times last year the mayor on FourSquare of the outlet. I found a favourite discounted scent and stocked up on it, fully aware of that status. I then found a favourite regular store scent and stocked up on it.

Last summer I fell in love with Forever Sunshine, I originally picked it up because I loved the name (my beloved and now deceased cat was named SunSHINE and he was very sick at the time) but then quickly fell in love with the scent.
I wanted the Eau De Toilette  but could not find it in stores, I called every store in the GTA for over a month.

I asked in the stores, where is the EDT? I was told, discontinued (it wasn't), I was told it was seasonal (it wasn't), I was told to check the outlet (I did, weekly, it wasn't there), it just seemed Toronto wasn't getting any for a long long long time. The worst part is I just had to figure that out on my own the employees didn't know a thing. Eventually I got Sparkled Beauty in HALIFAX (Halifax people) to grab me a bottle and waited months to see her to pick it up.

Ok, so since it wasn't the end of the fragrance I loved I was ok with all of this...but wait this week I learned it was the end for Forever Sunshine.

They are getting rid of it in stores and making it a "online exclusive". Which is great if you live in the USA but I live in Canada!!! So that sucks. Why? $20+ to ship here, so yeah...BBW YOU SUCK.

I highly suspect that won't even last long and in 6 months it will vanish from online too.
All these scents are going to be out of stores soon, they will be "online exclusives" which means we are out of luck here in Canada.
So why am I really so upset?

Well Bath and Body Works does this a lot...I mean A LOT! They launch a scent, a full line, then within months it is gone, for good, without warning.

Why launch countless scents then ditch them months later? It is one thing if it is limited edition or seasonal, but they aren't they are "permanent" items.

And that is the thing that really gripes me. If it is permanent that means more than 6 -24 months then gone. I mean this "Signature Collection" was launched in July 2010 and now it is gone less than 2 years later.

Here is a great example...Charmed Life October 2011-December 2011...It was ditched really fast. There are countless others and it disappoints me that they have to have a revolving door of scents.

On to the "Outlet" gripe.

It used to have a year ago when it opened

$ 1 lip glossed reg $7.50
$ 1 travel body wash, lotions and sprays.
75% off large candles reg $22

Now they are

50% off $7.50 = $3.75 for the lip glosses
3 for $10 for the travel items
50% off $22 =$11 for the candles

That is just an example...
I mean the candles can be bought for 2 for 1 most of the year and with the $10 off coupon from a past recipe even cheaper. These aren't deals any more.

The store when it first switched last June was packed with deals and products, then the store for a while was half empty, now it is half outlet half "best of" which includes the Forever SunShine by the way.

So the outlet sucks and isn't worth visiting, so why bother??

The lotions and wash are ok but not amazing, the candles are really nice, I admit that. But the scents are what get you in and if they get ditched all the time what's the point?

I think I am giving up on the brand all together and solely sticking to The Body Shop, their products are better, yes the scents aren't as complex but I can get items I loved for years there and they never get rid of them while still adding to them constantly with fresh new items.

Sorry Bath and Body Works .... you pissed me off.

  • Your Canadian outlet is a hybrid outlet lacking deals that you cannot get in a regular store.
  • You create countless scents only to ditch them right away and piss off fan loyalty (call them limited editions already not "signature collection")
  • And finally you Shipping costs to Canada are outrageous!!!!! Set up a Canadian site already, there is enough of us out there that it makes sense. 

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