Bath & Body Works | A Hand Sanitizer Trip Down Memory Lane Showcasing Pricing Throughout The Years From 2009 Until 2020

After my recent post regarding Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitizers and the reports of their selling out in stores, I wanted to take an inventory of what I had stashed in my collection.  

I recently did a de-stash sale on Mercari/Depop where I sold them off for less than $1 each and I couldn't remember just how many I had.

Starting to look into those refills had me wondering about my little (big) box of New Pocketbac Holders.  Many hours later I saw just how much I love these little bottles.  

I will share photos of those holders I have remaining but first I wanted to talk about the sticker pricing on these little bottles of scented sanitizers.

 
So I began with the older design bottles I still have. I loved this triangular-shaped bottle because it felt a bit more flat to me.  You could toss it in your purse, or your pocket and it just sort of "fit" well and didn't protrude too much.

 

And you could twist off the lid to refill it if you wanted.

One of my oldest bottle dates is 2009.  I know you are thinking, "what the heck?"  Well, my life of wanting to archive everything seems to drive me down this path of keeping at least one of those things that for a time, interests me.  

Bath and Body Works interests me...in case you haven't noticed.  So in my counting and organizing, I grabbed randomly, one of each of the years up to the change in bottle designs to share the price stickers on them.

When something becomes a habit, you tend to forget some of the details... duh, hence the reason for archiving... and I couldn't really remember the pricing on the older bottles.  I know they were sold and I purchased mine on the Promo of 5 for $5...but for some reason I thought the stickers may have been $1.00 or less.

Color me surprised when I saw the $1.50 and $1.75 pricing.  

From 2009 until 2012, the price on the bottles was $1.50.  Beginning in 2013 until the summer of 2015, the price remained $1.75.  

If you recall, the summer of 2015...sometime around SAS time, June or July...I think it was July, Bath and Body Works announced the change in bottle designs as coming soon.  I remember that the fall season of 2014 fellow blogger/vlogger Kelley shared a glimpse of this new bottle design from a store near her that was testing it out.  When we didn't see it hit at Christmas of 2014, I thought it failed.  It didn't.

Sure enough, in the spring of 2015, I saw it mentioned on in-store paperwork as coming.  

I remember the first New Design Holder that was shown was a piglet with twisty legs.  

 
I remember there was an Americana Fourth of July Pocketbac as the first one to release and I remember going crazy to find it.

This new style had a rounder, larger feel to it, you couldn't refill it easily if you wanted but the design area was bigger making the sticker easier to see.

​When the new pocketbacs arrived in 2015 they were priced at $1.75.  But that wasn't the only price they were.  


While doing my organizing I was reminded, and surprised, of some of the refills pricing I found that came in at $2.00 a bottle.  

 
I think there was a bit of push-back then over the price and the remainder of the refills stayed at $1.75 until December of 2019.  Beginning in 2020, we saw an increase in pricing to $1.95.  

The Daydream Hand Sanitizer shown is stamped 2019 with the increased $1.95 pricing reflected when it released in my store in 2020. 

 
I look forward to seeing what new hand sanitizers Bath and Body Works will release this year, and at what price they will come out with.  I am glad they haven't changed the bottle style yet.  It was a pain in the neck and not the neck if you know what I mean having thousands of bottles and holders only to need to start buying something new in 2015.  And yes, I said thousands.  

In my next post, I will share some of the holders I have left and this walk down memory lane made me smile at seeing some of the older designs.  I am not going to photograph all of the refills I have left...because...cough, cough, there are way too many. I know, I know.

When I find a design of a the holder I like, I tend to buy at least three.  Some to keep, some to give.  And some to replace when strangers take them off of my purse.  

With the increasing pricing on these holders and the increasing size, they are now becoming, I am selective over which I buy multiples of.  Which could be a good thing, as my stash is colorfully large.