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1111.- V Ri m

Shop International set about conquer-
ing the world, Body Shop Israel grew
at a more modest rate. Products were
manufactured in Haifa and a chain of
countrywide stores emerged gradually.
The Owners could not, however, sus-
tain the growth and by 1994 the chain
was losing hundreds of thousands of
shekels a year.
That year, Dani Bar-On, who was c
then marketing manager for Fisher,
noticed the ailing retail chain and real-
ized that it could make a useful strate-
gic addition to Fisher's empire.
He was in a dilemma, however. He
knew of the British chain store, but
was also aware that Body Shop Israel
had built up a reputation using that
name.
Bar-On approached the British
company and after negotiations, he —,
claims they agreed that Fisher would
buy Body Shop Israel, give trade-name
rights to the British chain, and open a—
string of franchises in Israel.
Fisher bought the Israeli company
in the summer of 1994 but, in an
unexpected about-face, Bar-On says
the British company reneged on the
deal.
"We were stuck with 16 stores we
didn't know how to run," complains
Bar-On.
Concerned, he hired the services of—
a retail chain:store consultant and by
the end of 1994 a 10-year turnaround
plan had been put into operation.
One of the first tasks was to shut
existing shops and open alternative
ones with a different image at new
sites.
But in November 1994, the British
chain dropped another bombshell. It
c\)
suddenly opened a store in Rishon
Lezion without telling anyone. Fisher
promptly got an injunction and with-
in a week the store had closed. Body
Shop Israel sued for breach of contract
and the use of its trade-name. The
Body Shop International counter-
sued.
In preparation for the suit, the
British chain sent a box of informa-
tion to Israel. It was a fatal blunder,
according to the Body Shop Israel's
adviser. "Documents there showed
unequivocally that the chain had
made a strategic decision not to enter
the Israeli market because of the Arab
boycott. It was only when peace was
signed with Jordan that they decided
to open here," he says.
When the information turned up
in court, and began to leak to the
international press, the battle turned
nasty says the advisor. In an unprece-