After a year-long delay stemming from the “COVID-19 Effect”, The Vitamin Shoppe finally opened itself up to a refranchising process. As many of my followers know, I’ve said The Vitamin Shoppe would move to a franchise model since their acquisition announcement in August of 2019. The franchise disclosure documents should have been ready in 2020, but the “COVID-19 Effect” created an uncertain business environment where it was better to dig in and execute on existing plans without rocking the boat. Now that we have publicly disclosed information and interested parties can apply to be a franchisee, I wanted to provide you with an overview of those details, discuss how they compare to their biggest competitor GNC, explain why this refranchising is happening, and most importantly discuss what’s could be coming next at The Vitamin Shoppe.
