La Senza was founded in Canada by Laurence Lewin and Irving Teitelbaum, who opened the company's first store in 1990. In October 2006, La Senza was purchased by L Brands of Columbus, Ohio for $710 million CAD in cash. By 2013, La Senza closed over two-thirds of its Canadian locations, including redundant and spin-off stores. Reasons for the brand's decline included discontinuing products that Canadians preferred, such as PJs, and the rising popularity of Victoria's Secret and Pink stores, which currently serve as the main focus for L Brands in Canada. Stuart Burgdoerfer, vice-president and CFO of L Brands, said of La Senza: “There are signs of optimism there, but we are not at all accepting of the current result that we have.” By January 2017, there were 329 La Senza stores worldwide, including 122 in Canada and four in the United States.