Refill bottles born from Brighton scarcity
Anita Roddick opened the first Body Shop in Brighton in 1976 on a small bank loan. She sold products in cheap urine-sample bottles and invited customers to bring them back for refills because she could not afford enough containers, and she painted the shop dark green partly to hide damp walls. Choices forced by lack of money were later presented as environmental principle, and they became the brand's defining identity.