The retail chain Lush is bankrupt – 70 employees will lose their jobs

A result of two years of pandemic and failing sales, says the chairman.

The retail chain Lush, which sells handmade cosmetics without packaging, is bankrupt.

Chairman Ola Løvaas of Fersk Kosmetikk AS confirms this to Romerikes Blad.

– It is simply terribly sad, he tells the newspaper.

The company was established in 2008 and has had a negative overall result since 2019.

So far, E24 has not been able to get in touch with Løvaas or the estate manager.

“Cruel” result

The chain consists of six stores and an online store which is now temporarily closed, according to the website. One of the stores is located in the Amfi Madla shopping center in Stavanger.

The bankruptcy is the result of two years of pandemic and then failing sales, according to the chairman.

Løvaas describes Lush’s result for 2022 as “horrific”. In the end, the chain had no choice, he says.

In the accounts for 2021, which are the latest available via the Brønnøysund registers, the company is listed with a total profit of minus NOK 1,563,956.

The year before, the result was minus NOK 1,414,015.

You have to go all the way back to 2018 to find a positive result from the cosmetics chain.

I think the chain has the right of life

Work is now being done to clarify whether someone wants to buy the estate to continue operating, or whether a winding-up sale will be initiated.

That’s what lawyer Jostein Nordbø at the Økland law firm says to RB.

Chairman Løvaas tells the newspaper that he believes the chain still has the right to life.

Lush is a global cosmetics company founded in 1995.

In Norway, the chain has stores in Oslo, Sandvika, Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger.