The malls near me pretty much only have VS and BBW. Today, I went into an Evelyn and Crabtree and Origins for the first time. Origins had this hand cream that smelled downright awesome. I also went into the Body Shop, which is also rare around here. The coconut and strawberry body butters from the Body Shop are to die for! The strawberry shower gel smelled like this Midwestern Faygo strawberry pop called "Redpop."

Evelyn and Crabtree also had awesome scrubs and body creams, but the prices were out of my range. My friend and I seriously fell in love with Evelyn and Crabtree's stuff today. I tried this body butter that smelled like Cocoa Butter, Nutmeg, and some other stuff in one. It made my hands soft and yummy-smelling all day.

What are your thoughts on these stores?

I LOVE the Body Shop body butters... they are sooooo moisturizing and they smell fantastic

The only butter from the TBS that I like is the strawberry. They are really moisturizing, but the other scents are just really faint to me. I love TBS oils and the amorito cologne.

I have been to a C & E a few times, but they closed alot of them around here.

Wendy, the Faygo redpop was a staple when we were kids. Did you ever try a faygo red pop float with vanilla ice cream?

I remember Faygo!


They used to have it in this area in the 50s when I was a kid. What memories. Wonder if it is stil made today? Wouldn't it be fun to have an ice cream soda nowadays?

Crabtree and Evelyn has come out with some interesting stuff lately. That body butter sounds interesting. I guess Crabtree must be trying to shed its 'nana' image. Will definitely check it out. Love anything with nutmeg and vanilla.


We have L'Occitane and Caswell Massey here also.
Herbier de Provence and the H20 stores have gone by the wayside. So has Garden Botanika which now only does mail order. They were all popular in the late 80s and early 90s just around the time BBW was 'born'. All of the bath and body stores had really neat stuff back in the day.

The Body Shop opened its first store back in 1988 and was 'THE' place to get 'granola' type body and skin care products. Since L'Oreal bought them out, I've noticed they are remodelling stores and making them larger and more modern. TBS 'invented' body butter around 1992 and then everyone got on the band wagon.

TBS used to be a 'franchise' and when BBW first opened, BBW franchise owners successfully kept it out of the malls around here. BBW then put small stores inside Structure around 1991 or so.

Sephora came around and soon body care products 'went uptown' with astronomical prices and a wide selection of products.

These days with WalMart, Target and drug stores like Walgreen's, Brooks/Eckerd, and CVS there are reasonably priced products available for the mass market. Avon has the 'Naturals' line which tends to copy BBW.

Kiehl's, Bigelow and Caswell Massey were the first 'apothacaries' in the US and Caswell still makes the cologne George Washington used!

What a wide and wonderful selection of stuff we have to chose from.


Body Time and their 'boutique' sister company Terra Nova were opened in the 1970s during the 'hippie' era in the San Francisco Bay area and their China Rain line was the first 'cult' fragrance. Around 1993 The Body Shop 'bought' the name from Body Time for $30K and copied their stores in SFO.

With the arrival of the 'internet' it's become Katy bar the door!

But BBW has the highest following and BBW products are the most 'copied.' Probably the most addicting also.
An interesting sidenote...Prozac and Zoloft were invented around the time BBW came into being. These medications are also used for 'obsessive-compulsive' disorder and kleptomania.

Are we 'hooked' or what? Just a small time capsule history of body care in the US.

id like to go back in time, and get the bbw
stuff i never got the chance to.
that would be awesome.
thats too funny.

Jeff...

Wow what a breeze through time, remember the Body Shop had the gel filled bath beads or little balls? I used to buy those by the dozens!

I used to get the bath oil beads, too! How cool that Caswell Masey still makes the cologne that George Washington used! Which one was that, by the way? I have a CM at my fancy mall, so I'll have to stop in and see what George Washington smelled like!

Becky,

George Washington wore Number Six which was created for him by CM.

Other famous people who wore CM were:
JFK - Jockey Club
Tricorn - John Barrymore (Drew's great grandfather), Cole Porter and Bing Crosby.

I like Creed fragrances. You have to mortgage your house, and sell a kidney AND a liver to afford them. My idol, Humphrey Bogart, wore 'Tabarome'. Many, many rich and famous stars wear Creed fragrances. We are not talking about 'hip hop' stars either. More like stars of the silent screen and black and white films.

You can access their website via Neiman Marcus.
I take a peek occasionally but would never pay $198 to $249 for a fragrance.

Creed prices!

Wendy, do you remember the product that smelled like nutmeg from C & E? That sound something that I would like to try.

Jeff,

Faygo redpop will be around till extinction I think. I might buy it once a year because now, it's just really super sweet to me.

lol, Jeff, I already know who John Barrymore is/was, but thanks for the clarification anyway.

The mall I was at had some of those other stores too, but I was with a non-obsessive person, so I limited myself.

The cream at Crabtree and Evelyn was called Cocoa Butter, Nutmeg & Cardamom. All of them actually smelled divine. Here's a link:

http://store.crabtree-evelyn.com/body-moisturizers-body...ams-and-butters.html

They were out of our price range, but my friend and I really did adore the products. We tried a scrub on our hands too and were very happy with the results.

I also went into a Sephore for the first time yesterday. My friend and I had so much fun smelling everything. I fell in love with Escada's Pacific Paradise.

I just saw this thread and was wondering if anyone knew if any clothing stores were having a sale. I know Express has a moderate sale, but what about others?

quote:

I fell in love with Escada's Pacific Paradise.

Excellent Wendy...You know you want to buy some... I have a mini bottle of some Crabtree and Evelyn lotion I should have sent in our swap.

Wendy,

I checked out the website for C&E and you are right about the price for the Cocoa Butter,Nutmeg and Cardemon cream.

I checked ebay, and it's the same too.
I really want to try this one and hopefully I will find one at a better price.



This isn't a B&B store, but they just opened an Ikea store near here, and people were waiting in line for like 3 days to get a free chair for the grand opening.

I will wait until it slows down before I go, because it will be super busy and parking would be a nightmare for awhile until the novelty wears off. I know they have alot of things that I would want!

At any given time it's always busy at Ikea. People just love cheaply made Swedish furniture that you can put together yourself.
I actually had quite a few things from there when I was in college, it's a fun store to go to.

An Ikea store opened up in ATL last yr. & it quickly became a hit. I never went b/c it was kind of out of the way for public transportation, but I have been told by one of my friends that I would love it.

Fryl,

Everyone talks about the quality of the ikea furniture because it's fun, long lasting and functional too.

They will make a killing in this area and people have been waiting a long time for the store to get here.

I am not interested so much in the furniture, but all of the other interesting things they have.

Are they really popular in Sweden to shop at, or are they just another "run of the mill" store to most swedish people?


Also Fryl, what is it proper to say, "swedes" or "swedish" I just want to know.

I love IKEA!!!!

Noelle, Ikea is popular all over Europe. I don't know about the stores in Sweden, but I remember that the Russians went crazy when the first Ikea store opened there. It's always busy and crowded in Holland so I am sure it's the same in Sweden.
They have a lot of fun things and it's all very cheap too. I used to buy my duvet covers there.
Swedes is a noun and Swedish adjective, right? Swedes are the inhabitants, and Swedish is when it comes from there.
I think you're better off asking someone else.

Also, the founder of Ikea is the richest person in Europe, I think.

The Ikea here is always packed as if it's last minute Christmas Eve shopping! They do have some great deals, and lots to look at. It's a fun store.