Country Apple, Cucumber Melon, Peach Nectar, Plumeria, and Sun Ripened Raspberry... those were the scents that defined my middle school and high school years lol. Ahhh the nostalgia!!!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Yes, all of those! 😍 Oh man, Peach Nectar! That is one that I don't think has made a comeback through all of these 90s revisits, but all the others are ones I've been able to revisit in more recent years! They should bring it back next time they do a throwback! 🍑

I remember cucumber melon being a popular scent back then and those bottle styles bring back so many good memories.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

I know it, Cucumber Melon was so iconic during these times! 🍈 Thanks so much for watching! 😊

Boy is this bringing back memories! The first time I shopped at BBW was in the fall of 1994. I can still remember how it looked as I was shopping at Express and saw it! All my friends had started bringing the lotions into school and I promptly dragged my mom into the store to buy me some lotions for my bookbag!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Aw yay, the same year as these photos were taken! 🥰 I remember how trends used to be that way (maybe they still are this way?) where you see all of your friends at school having something so you must get one to be included! I remember that happened with me and Lip Smackers Lip Balm...we pretty much made a club for it at school and we'd show each other our lip balm flavor of the day! 🤣 Do you remember some of your very first scents you chose? 😍

@magandgarrett

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC I can remember juniper breeze and Plumeria. I was a freshman in high school! And of course the limited brands were HOT! We had an express/VS/ Limited II, Limited and BBW all in the same area. The mall doesn’t even exist anymore!

Country Apple and Sun Ripened Raspberry were my two favorites! I always loved going there as a teen in the 90's. The employees were always so nice. The store had a warm and homey feel. It was kind of like going to a country grandma's house. I always thought the working sink was cool. LOL! I LOVED Heartland (the red and white) perfume. I HOPE they bring it back! I would so buy it!!! I actually still have my original Juniper Breeze spray from around 1995. I spray it every once in a while. It smells the same! Thanks for posting this. It brought me back to my youth.

@Katie-eu6nh

5 ай бұрын

Yes, I write to them every so often to bring back heartland, all-time favorite perfume.

@charlottecharlie-w4o

20 күн бұрын

@@Katie-eu6nh Any luck? I would for sure buy it I loved that one and got so many compliments on it back then.

Omg I remember that wooden massager! And also I have two stores near me. One store is a standalone and they do whole thing asking me what I like or what I’m looking for etc but the mall store does not do this. But personally I’m a shy person so I’m fine with them leaving me alone 😂 I usually know what I’m looking for anyway

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Oh, you remember the massager? 🥰 That's so cool! I don't remember them from my past but was glad to have found some pictures online! 😊 Oh nice, I've never been to a stand alone store...I know that there can be some interesting differences in stand alones vs. inside malls. Mine is inside a mall, so I know the customers we got often were just browsing because they happen to walk by rather than deliberately making a trip to grab stuff. Although there were those kinds of customers too! I know what you mean, I personally am an introvert and can get overwhelmed easily, but after working at BBW for so long I understand how customer service works better from their POV and let them help me for their sake rather than my own! 🤣 Although like I mentioned, the ones in my location currently don't seem to be big into the helping every customer type of stuff like it used to be. Thanks for watching, I hope you had a happy New Year! 🤗

Omg I love seeing nostalgic videos like this. Growing up in this era to and all the memories. 🥺😊

Thank you Melissa for bringing back this sweet and nostalgic era of Bath and Body Works. Such a simpler, happier time where customer service was much more literally hands on interactive than today. 💕🥰🤗😁

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed going down memory lane with me! 😍 It's so true, simpler and happier times when we could slather ourselves in body glitter and listen to Mmmbop 🤣 I love seeing the employees being so hands on, everyone looks like they're having such a good time in that store! Thanks for watching! 🤗

Wow I was pregnant in 1994 and my son is 28 now lol where does the time go! Very nice pictures Melissa 🥰🥰

Been a die hard fan since 1997. I'll never forget it. I was 15 & went with my bf at the time & his mom. They had a special for "Pick 3" at a discount & I picked Vanilla Bean. I remember them saying "you sure you don't want to mix it up?" I said "No thanks" That was my 1st love & the smell of the original vanilla bean takes me back to that time. I actually bought a lotion from the 90s bc the "vanilla bean" they have now doesn't smell the same. This video took me back & I loved it SO much. My other fav products were the glass bottles of aromatherapy around 2000. I miss that & the customer service. Wow so much has changed. The other day I went in & the lady had an attitude w me. Very cold. It's usually not the case but even on a good day I still don't get the hands on experience like when I tried the purely silk lotion in moonlight path. I have the vintage glass bottle of moonlight path, eucalyptus spearmint with Flowers in bottle. I cherish them so much. Also cotton blossom, juniper breeze & sun ripened raspberry hand sanitizer with bicycle on the front defined my high school days ❤️ then later on foam burst

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

This comment flew under my radar and just now reading it. Thanks so much for sharing your early Bath & Body Works story! Just classic Vanilla Bean can do the trick! 🍦🤍 Seeing these pictures really made me feel like the employees genuinely wanted to be there and loved the company and products. No offense to the employees I see now, but they just seem like they're there to get a paycheck which, of course is how life is and I get it. But makes me wish it were as wholesome as these photos captured it! 💝 Aww I also miss when they'd have novelty items like the flowers in the bottle you mentioned. So cute and special! 🥰

@MelisJoy

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC I definitely agree with everything you said & miss those days sooo much 🌸🌿

I wish I could shop in the 90s! You bring such a unique perspective of the brand and I appreciate that so much!! I love learning about the history I can't wait for more content ❤

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Me too, I wish I could take my wallet and time travel and go shopping! 😍 Aw thanks so much, I appreciate it!

Great video, thank you. It was such a treat to go at the holidays, and the cute animal in ski jacket ornaments. My favorite scents were Happy Daisy, Plumeria and Juniper Berry. At holidays there was even a Nutcracker scented bath gel one year. It was fun for the kiddos to pick out their glycerin soap color Awesome time machine.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing your BBW memories! I didn't use it, but I've seen pictures of the Nutcracker bath goodies you're referring to. So cute!

Oh my goodness!!!! I am so emotional looking at these photos....

The first time I visited a Bath and Body Works was in 1999 and our store at the mall had been open for about 2 years. I was mall shopping with a girlfriend and she said she had to stock up on her favorite scent...Plumeria. I decided to pick out my first trio and that was Cucumber Melon. The next time I went I bought the Pearberry set. My all time favorite scent collection is the Tutti Dolci set and miss it a lot.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

That's such a good memory! I love how they played upon the idea of "the trio" (and they still do!) of getting your shower gel, moisturizer, and fragrance mist, although back then it was more often called body splash! I couldn't agree more about the original Tutti Dolci collection! 🍰 Tiramisu, Lemon Meringue, Angel Food Cake, Sugar Wafer, Cinnamon Dolce just to name a few...every single one was good! 😍

These pictures are amazing! I remember the baskets and the glycerin soaps wrapped in clear plastic. Also the deodorants that matched the scents. Thanks Melissa for sharing.💕🤗

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Oh yeah, I love the glycerin soaps in their different colors in baskets, so cute! One of my earliest BBW memories was using a Sweet Pea glycerin soap in the bath! 🌸 True, they need to bring back more deodorant that matches their body care fragrances!

Thank you so much🥰 My sister shopped there around 97' 98' and early 2000's❤

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Aww good memories! 🥰

Oo! I'm a new generation employee from 2021 to current day, and I enjoy your channel so much! I love learning more and more about the company. Some of my store managers have been with the company for over 15ish years for both! I love asking said managers about the history that you share on your channel and they always are impressed I know so much! So thank you for these videos.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Sorry this answer is so late! Do you still work at BBW now too? That's amazing some of the employees in your location have worked there for so long! Ask them tons of questions if you can about products and what it was like! 🥰

When I go into B&BW the sales reps always say hi and often try to make conversation. Unfortunately I'm very shy and socially anxious so I wish I could be left alone lol, but my local associates are very friendly!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

I hear ya, before I worked there I'd be so confused why the sales associates were being so pushy and I hated it...even avoided BBW for a while because of it. Then when I worked there, I realized all of the pressure they put in employees to meet sales goals, and even would pull your hours if you weren't making enough sales, which for someone needing to pay bills would be awful! This was around 2014 that I really started to notice this. I think the original message BBW once wanted to have was for employees to treat you really well and welcome you as if they were a host and you were entering their home. I think that message got muddled up with the need/desire to drive sales too much and so now we have this awkward in between of employees being way too pushy. It takes a really genuine employee to do what the employees in these photographs are doing, rather than what happens in most stores today. Sorry for the long winded reply haha! And thanks for sharing your experience! 🥰🤗

Omgosh! I remember that!! I was 14 in 94..

This is amazing, Melissa! What a treasure! You know I share your fascination with retail history as well; it’s a very specific interest but it’s just so captivating and cool to see!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

I know, I love it when you send me pictures and clips of old stores/malls! I have a playlist of some abandon mall tours on KZread I want to get around to watching, I think it's so neat! 😍

Wow this was a cool video! Love nostalgia and it's great to see some pieces of Bath and Body Works history!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much! Me too, I love looking into the past and reliving what it was like at BBW in the 90s! 🥰

I am really into vintage photos, so this was really cool to see. Being I was a 90's kid, these bring back great memories and fun times. There was a B&BW around me that looked so similar to the one you had pictured from 1994. Great video!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

I am too, I love seeing retail/mall history! 🤩 Thanks so much, I'm glad I was able to take you down memory lane!

What a cool find! I would frame those 😻 Definitely reminds me of when I first shopped there in the 90s. My middle school years were 94-97 and everyone had the sun ripened raspberry spray but I was a peach nectar girl 😹. Also remember my older sister having juniper breeze and I called it port-a-potty scent, yeah... still never liked that one 😬 Who knew all these years (decades?!) later I'd still have such a love for bbw! I live in a city with many stores and regularly visit about 6 of them, and I'd say each has a different level of customer service. Some surely know me as a regular who hits the sales and doesn't really need assistance, some are super forward with their customer experience so I love to play along and indulge them 😆 and one store (the newest) is like whatever lady 🙄

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Oh yes, I am getting them framed! 📷😁 Aw I forgot about Peach Nectar...so good! Honestly for Juniper Breeze, last time I smelled it I was like "Why do you smell like that???" hahaha I want to try it again and see if I've changed my mind but yeah, I think it's one of those ones that either you like it or it super stinks! 🤣 No in between! Wow that's really cool you have 6 nearby stores! And interesting that they are vary in terms of the customer service. I know it really depends on the manager and how new they are or how intensely they've been trained. I know the company always makes it such a big deal when training and coaching, to a fault sometimes! 😋

WOW this video is everything! I love seeing old pictures!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Me too, they're so cute! 🥰

So neat!! Thank you so much for sharing these pictures!!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

I'm glad you liked seeing them, thanks for watching! 🥰

Before the Glycerine soaps were wrapped and shaped, they used to have this huge wooden and Metal contraption in the store where the soap was in a huge log and the associate would cut you off a bar from the log. That was an experience!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Yesss that is so cool! It would be neat if they did something like that again with the fresh cut soaps! I think I've seen pictures, but I was too young to remember those days myself. Thanks for sharing your memory! 🤗

@Katie-eu6nh

5 ай бұрын

Yes, I had almost forgotten about that, that was the best!

Wow! This was great! I have so many memories of BBW from the 1990s. My favorite scents were Gingham and later Sweet Pea. My mom and I both wore them. I was shopping at BBW literally all the time! I loved the products and it always made me happy to go there 😊 💕 Nothing has changed, I still ❤️ all things BBW!! The Bath and Body Works store in the mall closest to me is modern, but there's another one a few miles away that I like to shop as well. It's not full Heartland, but not completely modern either. It's nostalgic with good memories 😌!!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

It was so fun to look at these and reminisce/pretend I'm there right now! 😊 Oh wow, were you using the original Gingham like in these pictures? (the current Gingham was introduced 2019) If so, what was it like in comparison to the one that they have now? After reading the notes, they seem to be very similar if not intended to be the same! Aw Sweet Pea! 🥰 That was one of my earliest scents I used as well, in a bar soap and a kid! Wow that's cool you seem to have a "hybrid" of both old and new in one store! What's the mall called? I'd love to see pictures of it! 😊 Hope you had a great New Year's! Thanks for sharing your memories with me!

@onebeautifulangel6706

Жыл бұрын

Happy 2023! Hope you had a great New Year's day 😊 Yes, it was the original Gingham, just like the one in your pictures! The 2019 version seems exactly the same scent as the original, but the original may have been just a bit stronger. The hybrid BBW is located in a strip mall called Marketplace of Brown Deer in Brown Deer Wisconsin. There's quite a few photos on Google. I'm going to take my own photos next time I go there!

The employees at bbw usually ask what im looking for and always help me find whatever I need. I never had a demo, just the body mist/spray sample things on a cardboard piece of paper

I used to work there in the early 90s in Antioch, TN -- the downside was that most of my paycheck went toward product! I remember when they first came out with The Gingham perfume, and there were other perfumes that they added to their line. I was trying to find the name of my favorite perfume that they discontinued and I can't remember it for the life of me.

This video is so neat

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much! 🤗

Oh my gosh the green lid bottles love! I was in high school in the 1990’s loved bbws and was a seasonal employee 2006-2007 wow memories still have my happy massager ❤

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Yay that's awesome! 🥰 What products to you remember during holiday 2006/2007? That's around the time I really started getting into the lip glosses if I remember correctly! 😍

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Oh and the happy massager hahah nice! Do you have any other products from the past still around?

@papertherapywithlori4724

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC lipicious for sure has those in every flavor and the smaller 4 oz 5 oz body creams were the best (want those back) bubble bath in the signature line! I remember the country apple 🍎 shampoo & conditioner and deodorant wow! Products have changed

@papertherapywithlori4724

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC moved in 2014 and purged a lot of things that were bad, found a hand soap the other day in the mason jar packaging from the farm stand collection heirloom apple 🍎 lots of true blue spa favorite 60 sec manicure and look ma’am new hands lotion

@papertherapywithlori4724

Жыл бұрын

Found a 2010 Slatkin & Co candle (iced ginger bread) in my stash 😂😂

I remember me and my mom always went into bath and body works she loved that store and now do me and my daughter

The glycerin soaps! I miss those so much!! I found one my mom had stashed away and used it last year, it was so good. I really don't like the current soaps.

So fun and nostalgic looking at these photos! Great find. I had forgotten about the wicker baskets and the glycerin soap they used to sell. I remember in the 90s, my sisters and I couldn't get enough of the Flowering Herbs scent. I think it was pretty popular back then. Thanks for sharing these!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Agreed, it was so fun to go down memory lane! 🍎 Thank you! Good memory! I don't recall seeing it smelling Flowering Herbs but I've seen a lot about it from looking at vintage stuff online. It seems to have been very popular at the time, you're right! Was it in a collection of different fragrances? Like an original Flowering Herbs, then different variations with different colors or something like that? I feel like I saw a gift set like that when browsing on eBay! 💐🌿 Do you remember what it smelled like? 😊

@fuchsialocks592

Жыл бұрын

Oh my goodness, i forgot about those glycerin soaps!

Oh my gosh Melissa thank you for sharing these photos!!! This brings back such fond memories. My daughter was born in 1990 and my son is 95. I honestly don’t remember when the BBW opened in our mall but I know I shopped there when my daughter was really young. I remember shopping with the little baskets but had totally forgotten about them! I remember the bar soap packaging and I miss the red, white and green. Most of the associates at my store know me so they are very nice but know that I usually come with a list 😂 This was such a fun video! A walk down memory lane…thank you again!!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Yay I'm glad you enjoyed seeing these photographs! 🥰 I just love them too! Those are me and my sister's birth years as well (I'm 95). I grew up with beauty products being a big part of my life since I was pretty much born into my mom selling Avon products, so between always being well stocked with "foo foo" as we called it or playing with makeup and lip balms, it was always a big influence right away for me. My store opened in 1997, and my mom started shopping/receiving gifts from there pretty soon after. Aw man I wonder if anybody in this world has kept some of the old props/shopping baskets/marketing for use in their home. I know when browsing, I had seen someone on eBay that was selling one of the wagon props with the sunburst logo from the early 90s! It had been sold for many years before I had seen it or else I would have bought that so fast! 😂 The baskets and branding was so cute then! That's true, sometimes you don't need help because you know exactly what you're doing and the employees are like "Heyyy long time no see!" 😅🥰 Thanks for watching and hope you're having a great week! 😊

@juliemudd2985

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC awww so neat that you and my son share a birth year ☺️ Yes I loved all of the branding from the 90’s. BBW was such a popular store in the malls. Not that it isn’t now but the times are so different. I know I sound so old but I’m just turning 50 this month 😂 I really appreciate all of the time and work you put into your content! I truly enjoy your channel. Thank you so much 😊 I hope you’re having a great week!

Love this! I miss this era so much, I grew up going to the store in the heartland era to get the big hand sanitizers in scents like country apple and freesia. I was about to be 6 months old when these photos were taken lol. I miss all the old school products. Still shopping there but things are so watered down and different! I think that store outside in that mall was a Sam Goody

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Yes, agreed! I remember especially the big country apple sanitizer bottles (I think I'd seen Cucumber Melon too). I remember it being in a flattened trapezoid kind of shape and it had little blue specs in it! Hmm, I wonder if it could be a Sam Goody! Good thinking. It's hard to tell and research since it seems that Sam Goody had many different looking logos, but it does look like the cursive reddish pink logo they've had. Online I read that they tried to expand in the UK during the mid 90s, which lines up with when these photos were taken, so it's entirely possible! 🥰

this is so cute and wholesome to see! I really wish bath and body works still had the heartland theme bc it just seemed so sweet:,) also I'm not sure if you know but did bath and body works have a Halloween collection in the 90s?

The first time I had ever heard of BBW was at Christmas 1994 when my dad got me a shower gel and body lotion gift set in Seaspray. I wonder how many people remember that scent? Lol. The first time I actually remember going into a BBW store was during the holiday season 1996. I remember buying Sugar Plum and Winter Festival, a scent I actually loved and wish they would bring back. Not long after that I became a regular customer.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Oh yes, I don't remember smelling Seaspray but I have seen about it online. 😊🌊 I've never heard of Winter Festival before. I just looked it up and it seems pretty rare. I think it says it smells like pine and berries...does that sound right to you? I'd love to see that one come back! 😍🌲

@TheAlo32

Жыл бұрын

Omg! Yes, Seaspray! I can almost smell it!

Wow this is amazing

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! I had so much fun going over these pictures! 🤗

I was born 1997, so a bit past this time. However, when I was young me and my mom used to go to the mall every Friday night and B&BW was one of the places we would always visit. My first fragrance ever was Sweet Pea :)

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Aww that's such a sweet memory! Yes, Sweet Pea is one of my very first scent memories too! 🤗 Thanks for sharing!

Yes

Hi! New subscriber. I live in Canada and surprisingly BBW expanded the market here in 2008 The company I feel has done fairly well here. The stores are in almost every single mall here it seems, but just in the malls. I've never seen ones in shopping complexes as stand alone stores. For some reason I thought BBW was in Canada in the 90's. I do remember shopping at a BBW store visiting the U.S. back in the late 90's. My very first scents were Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin and Country Apple which to this day I still love. I remember Sweet Pea during the Halloween season, but have not seen in a few years as a scents. Sweet Pea is a good scent. I'm happy BBW is bringing back older scents like Brown Sugar & Fig for SAS so a newer generation can experience. I do remember the stores were a lot different even in the early 2000's in Canada than they are today though. From what I remember there was not a lot of choices with scents as there are today. Customer Service today is not as 'hands on' anymore. Associates will greet you and do ask if you are looking for anything in particular still. That's about it. I see sinks in every store to try out any hand soaps etc. but I never see anyone use them.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Hi there! Thanks so much for subscribing! 😊 And thanks for the info about Bath & Body Works in Canada. I don't know much about the Canadian stores or how they came to be pretty well established over there! Sounds like they had more success over there than they did overseas. Oh yes, Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin is one of the oldest Fall seasonal fragrances I've seen! To me, that scent still smells like the 90s even today! Oh that's interesting, you mean like Sweet Pea in a Halloween design? We usually have Sweet Pea available and it has undergone a handful of repackages. Yeah, I agree with you on that. Simpler and less options, as well as more sampling and exploring in stores with the help of associates. I remember bringing back the use of the sink for demos in my store location during the year 2018 especially when they released 2 body care collections, Seatox and the Water collection. Both lines had body scrubs that were super fun and easy for us to use as a conversation starter. I'd constantly be taking customers to the sink to try them out and they loved it! 🧜🏼‍♀️ I quit in 2021 and every time I've gone in after that, the sink looks like it's collecting dust. 😢

@crafting_after_midnight4154

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC I walked into my local BBW store today at the mall to check out if there is anything interesting for me to pick up before SAS is over. In all my years shopping at BBW today was the first time I actually picked up a Gingham mist in a mini. I did notice Sweet Pea on the shelves, but it was not part of SAS. The body care was full price. I'm guessing they brought it back for spring. Yes, Sweet Pea was released as a Deep Cleansing Hand Soap. It came in a purple/hot pink glittered skull with a black pump. I remember buying that at the time during the Halloween season. I wish I kept the container at the time. I can't remember the exact year, but I believe it was in the early 2000's. I will have to Google it. Yes, BBW has been successful here in Canada in comparison to oversea countries. You're almost guaranteed to find a BBW store or even a BBW/White Barn in almost every single mall here. I hear the company is trying to expand again in the U.K. I also noticed the body care products sold in Canada the prices are not on them. Whereas, in the U.S. they are. The prices are generally much higher than in the U.S. and not every product makes it to Canada. There is also now a BBW Canadian website where you can order online.

I’m pretty sure the first time I ever went into a BBW was around 1996-1997. I was in 7th grade and the hand sanitizers were the popular thing in school. I loved freesia, pear berry, and sun ripened raspberry! The couple of stores I still go into are usually great with their customer service. But usually I just want to wander around and smell the candles and look at hand soap!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Oh yeah, I remember hand sanitizers being popular even then! I remember in the late 90s/early 00s them having these full size bottles in a flattened trapezoid type shape, and it was gel with little blue specs in it. I mainly remember cucumber melon and country apple in those! Oh yeah, three good classics! 🥰 Yeah I know what you mean, there is definitely a fine line between helpful and nice customer service vs annoying! 😂 I think it takes a certain personality type to be able to successfully provide customer service without being sharky. 😂

I remember the green light fixtures, and the outside of my store had large, curved white fixtures. That was in the 90s before remodels. I was excited for the White Barn remodel, but it made everything much more cramped.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Ah yes, it seems difficult to find images and information about Bath & Body Works' store appearances before the Body Shop lawsuit changes. My understanding is that they included more white wood paneling, even more baskets, and rather than gingham it was more like red and white vertical stripes? Does that sound right? I wasn't old enough to see it in person so I'm going off what I've tried to see online! 😂 What do you mean by large, curved white fixtures? 😮 Like tables that product sits on, or window awnings? It sounds neat! Agreed on the White Barn business. I like them in some ways, but...I feel like it takes away or doesn't match the vibe as much as the regular Bath & Body Works style!

@johnlovesbridge

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC they were light fixtures along the outside "Bath & Body Works" sign. Imagine a swan neck with a light where the beak would be.

Okay, I got far too invested in the google detective hunt and I found a few articles from the UK newspaper "The Independent" which may have used those photos to advertise the opening of the first UK stores in Milton Keynes, Derby and Edinburgh. Also found a WWD article indicating the initial plan to open up 100 BBW stores in the UK in 1997. Not sure what happened with the plan to open physical stores but it looks like BBW has continued to have a 'concession' store presence within the UK Next stores in person and online :)

@emsee2270

Жыл бұрын

I can't add links but if you search for the article titles "Body Shop look-alike to open in UK", "Invasion of the Body snatchers: Anita Roddick's empire has a rival with its heart in America, says Rosie Millard" and "BATH & BODY WORKS SLATED FOR UK IN 97" (WWD article) that should direct you to the articles 😄

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Haha I can be exactly that way too! It's so easy to fall down a rabbit hole of research sometimes! 😅 I linked one of those "The Independent" newspaper articles in my description box, and I will look at the ones you found as well. Thanks so much for finding those! 🥰 Super neat! Since filming, I actually was able to contact somebody who worked in the Milton Keynes BBW back in 1995, and we discussed a little about what happened to BBW's plans to open more in the UK. She said/speculated that BBW pulled out of the UK and closed the few stores they had around 2001 because of a slump back in the US. 😫

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much, I will do my reading! 🥰😁

@emsee2270

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC oh I didn't see the link properly! Just too excited to start hunting 😂😂😂

I still have my happy massager!

I loves loves this

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! 🤗

Hi Melissa. Happy New Year! Love this video! Can you tell me if those ohotos were expensive? And how you searched to find them? Thanks!

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Hi Sue! Happy 2023 to you! 🎆 Thanks so much for watching. The photographs actually weren't too expensive in relation to their worth to me. Each photo was about $13, and there was a sale on them buy 3 get 1 free or something like that so I did get a little discount as well. Shipping for the whole lot was $11, which also was pretty good considering they are fragile and came all the way from Latvia. I honestly found them more or less by mistake just from scrolling through pages upon pages of vintage Bath & Body Works items on eBay. 😊

@suegreene7841

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC oh that’s right! Out of the country! Thanks so much!

this was a TRIP!! thank you as always 💙 unlike the us, countries have excess taxation and other ways to "squeeze" large overseas businesses to prevent stressing out local mom n pop markets. with import tax, it might not be profitable to sell there. my county in WA doesn't allow walmart to build there, as a sideways example

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Hi, I'm glad you liked it! 🥰 Ahh that's some good insight. I could see that being applicable to BBW! 💸

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST SCENT??? Mine was peach, then sun ripened raspberry, country apple, plumeria, juniper breeze and flowering herbs. They really need to bring these back. And Heartland gingham perfume (red & white), please! I even remember buying a checkered picnic blanket that came in a bag, back when they sold things like that. I miss that old style country store, it was like you were picking out fruit.

There is a bath and body works here in Miami that is still in the old style hasn't been remodled, it's a very small store but I love going for SAS cause you find some good stuff it's the bath and body works in Bayside mall~

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Wow that's cute! I know often times it's those smaller, lesser used BBWs that skip their updates (mine is like that in my town) and I find it so nice that there is actually some new and some old both! 😍 Ooh have you made it in for SAS since it started 12/26? 😊 Actually I just looked up pictures of the BBW you're talking about and it's really interesting...half modern half vintage! I see red gingham wall with green lights, old cabinets and old tables...but then I see there's a White Barn inside, and some blue gingham/lit up cabinets which is of the newer updates! So cool to have both! 💙

@shuuichissaihara

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC YEP all the big BBW at the mall are all modernized but there's something nice and cozy about the feel of the vintage store~ YES I have actually all my shopping for this SAS has been from that BBW haha Probably will go back soon next time I'll make sure to take pictures to send them :)

👍❤

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

📷💝

I had someone helping me shop last summer. She didn't demo anything on me, but she sprayed the cards and handed them to me. That store was a week away from closing (the whole mall closed), so I can't go back there. At one of the other locations near me, the associate at the door always asks what I'm shopping for and will let me know where things are located. Sometimes I'll get a "Are you (still) doing okay?" I went to SAS today at another mall. No greeting. Had a question and I got an answer, but she didn't seem like she wanted to help me. The lady at the register was very nice, but otherwise I didn't feel like I got the experience that the people in the picture were getting. 😔 I definitely remember the stores looking like that, but we must have gotten ours a little later in the 90s. I don't remember those bottles.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Aw that's too bad one of the stores near you closed! 😔 That's good you still have some nearby though! 😊 Yeah it's interesting to see the different levels of employee friendliness/experience from store to store. I know from an employee POV, SAS can be a difficult time to try and engage customers in a meaningful sort of way. Usually people just want a bag and to be left to rummage through red bins (and rightly so!) So between that, being completely exhausted from the holidays and SAS prep, I know if any of us were going to be zombies, it was during winter SAS! 😂 Thanks for sharing your experience! 🤗 That makes sense, I know they frequently were trying different designs, so you can really tell the year just by the bottle since packaging changed so much. Packaging changes a lot now too, but more in the labels rather than the bottle shapes! 😊 I miss the dark green and sunburst logo, it was so charming!

October 15th 94 my sister's 1st bday lol😅

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

Oh, wow! Funny to think this was what was happening over in a BBW in the UK at that time! 😁

I rather the employees leave me alone 😁

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

I understand that completely! There was a time I stopped shopping there because the employees were so bad/annoying!💀 I think it takes a well trained/a genuine type of person to be an employee that is helpful/nice but doesn't cross the line with pushiness! 😊

I worked there in late 90s early 00s if you have questions

I remember first shopping at BBW when I was 10 so that would have been 1997. Warm Vanilla Sugar was my first scent and it's such a shame that they changed it.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

That was the year my local Bath & Body Works opened! I remember my mom having a holiday packaging Warm Vanilla Sugar shimmer gel lotion! I love how they used to have more novelty items back then outside just the standard fine fragrance mist, lotion/cream, and shower gel! Do you have any bottles from back then still? 😊

@verucasalt4535

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC unfortunately no.

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

@@verucasalt4535 Aw that's okay...they will live on in our memory! Haha I've kept some through the years but feel bad for the ones I no longer have! 😋

@verucasalt4535

Жыл бұрын

@@MelissaC Haha, you're more patient than me! I don't keep lotions etc past a certain date, plus I don't like clutter. 😋

When I go to bath&body work then employees always ask me if I need help

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

That's good! My store has a fairly fresh/new batch of employees including manager so I think they are having to learn from the ground up about Bath & Body Works style customer service. It can be nice to be left alone to shop because sometimes at BBW employees can be too much if they aren't careful. But at the same time, I see employees in my store now and think about all of the times my manager would be overly harsh on me when sales weren't good for the day or if I didn't get around to helping a customer because I was helping someone else. I see them now and think "Gee I'd never get away with just standing around doing nothing like these employees are" 😂

🤍🤍🤍

@MelissaC

Жыл бұрын

💙🤍

We’re taught the rapid “Breakaway” because we’re too focused on quick uncovering-fill the baskets- move them to room 2 to conversion. Conversion numbers are walkie’d to us every 15 minutes on the hour. We are pressed to make the hour, so it’s much more selling pressure that prevents us from delivering a good customer experience. It makes me sad too because all of the things that I used to do to give the customers a unique experience (that I was praised for when I first started) was completely UNDONE over the course of 3 months. 😢😢😢

@melisaco79

7 ай бұрын

Tourists are our main customers, often people who don’t have BBW in their country, and I used to even bust out my Apple translator to get past language barriers. Now, if I’m trying to communicate with a customer in their language, I get scolded or given “the 👀 look” by my manager and told to “hurry up and uncover then breakaway” over my walkie. I can’t uncover if the customer DOESN’T SPEAK ENGLISH! 😤