It's business as usual for the Morphe store in the Victoria Centre despite its parent company Forma Brands filing for Voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings - or as it is also known, bankruptcy protection in the US. Morphe opened its large ground-floor shop in Nottingham back in 2019.
US shoppers and staff were shocked when it was announced that Morphe would close all 18 of its stores across America to focus on selling online instead. It is understood that there are no plans to close the UK branches as Morphe tweeted it will be keeping some select retailers and stores outside of the US open.
The Nottingham branch was open for business as of Friday, January 13. The Nottingham branch appears to be the only standalone store while the other four are in Boots across Ireland and England.
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On Twitter, officials at Morphe wrote: "We have made the difficult decision to close all Morphe stores in the U.S. We are forever grateful to our store teams for their passion, talent and dedication over the years. Customers can continue to shop Morphe online and at select retailers. Morphe stores outside the U.S. will remain open."
In an updated statement on Friday, Morphe said: "Our parent company Forma has agreed to be acquired by a group of investors in a court-supervised sale. This doesn't impact the Morphe products that you love and we will continue to launch new products. Morphe."
Set up by brother and sister Linda and Chris Tawli in 2008, it was one of the first start-up beauty companies to recognise the power of social media and influencers on the market. Morphe is known for its cutting-edge beauty products which are incredibly reasonably priced. The brand became an online beauty sensation after its eyeshadow palettes went viral and sold out so quickly that they led to waiting lists.
The products in the collections which included brush sets and eyeshadow palettes failed to sell as well as expected leaving many on sale across the UK and US. The company also spent money developing a line with Ariana Grande which is thought to have also not sold as well as expected.
Rumours about the US closures have been circulated online since December, especially through social media platforms such as TikTok. The brand was once valued at $2.2 billion at its height but Covid closures and disappointing sales have left their mark.
*Nottinghamshire Live has contacted Morphe, Boots and Forma for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication.
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