GREENOCK’S Oak Mall has been dealt another blow with the closure of a popular national beauty products store.

The Body Shop will shut on Saturday.

It has a full-time manager and three part-time workers, but it is not known if any of them will lose their jobs or be transferred.

The shop is situated opposite the empty Marks & Spencer store, which re-located this month to Port Glasgow.

Mystery surrounds the reason for The Body Shop’s closure.

Their national press office refused to speak about why it is shutting or to say what will happen to the staff.

And Oak Mall management also declined to answer questions about the shut-down, and what impact this might have on the shopping centre.

Local shoppers have speculated that it might be due to a knock-on effect of the M&S closure, but it could also be due to national problems the chain has faced since being taken over by cosmetics giant L’Oreal 11 years ago.

It is believed L’Oreal wants to offload the high street chain, which has been suffering slowing sales but still has more than 3,000 stores in 66 countries and employs 22,000 people.

One market analyst has described the chain’s performance as ‘uninspiring’ as profits have fallen and products have been copied by rivals.

It is also facing the high cost of running a large number of shops as well as competition from online shopping.