In June of 2013, Fruits & Passion’s parent company, S.C. Johnson & Sons Inc., sold the brand to South Korean conglomerate LG Corp. LG is parent company of TheFaceShop. A handful of franchised Fruits & Passions locations, including its store at Place d’Orléans in suburban Ottawa, will remain. The Company’s Quebec stores will also continue operating under the Fruits & Passion name for the foreseeable future.
Interview requests with the company were denied, though staff at some former Fruits & Passion locations confirm that the brand has struggled in much of Canada. Many Quebec Fruits & Passion locations continue to see strong sales, partly due to its exceptional brand identity and market coverage.
According to its website, the TheFaceShop has over 2,300 stores in 29 countries.
I have a few products from the store, including a BB cream (a colourless/one shade fits all one) and some tools. I tried their foundations/tinted BB creams, but I think the shades are still very Korean-oriented. In other words, even my NOT DARK southern Chinese skin tone is too "dark" for their products. Oh well, at least there’s a wide range of shadows, lipsticks, blush and skincare products (plus tools) to choose from. One would THINK that an Asian brand would be better for Asian skin tones, right? NO SIREE. FYI: I usually take some sort of medium shade with western brands.
What is the average store size?
Good question. We’re not exactly sure, though many appear to be relatively small… somewhere in the 1,000 sq ft range.