BHV Marais rescue plan to preserve 250 jobs, Digi Mart USA News (Paris, France): The BHV Marais department store in Paris was placed under judicial reorganization on Monday, November 2, after losing hundreds of thousands of euros, partly due to the arrival of Shein within its premises. The current management is seeking a way out of the impasse, according to RTL.
L’Appartement Français has already made itself known, according to RTL information. It is the only known competing takeover project to date, and it is radically different, proposing a showcase for made-in-France products, 900 brands, and the opposite of Shein.
“The idea would be to take over one-third of the building on rue de Rivoli,” said Charles Huette, one of the company’s executives, speaking to RTL. Brookfield, the Canadian fund that owns the BHV’s walls, would continue to operate the rest of the premises.
For the project, L’Appartement Français targets “90% made in France, 5% secondhand, and 5% made in Europe,” which the company describes as the “only way” to “bring back the BHV Marais’ historic customers” and “offer a commercial bridgehead to all brands that manufacture in France.”
The takeover plan provides for retaining 250 of the current 700 employees. “This is a project co-built with employees, the BHV’s intersyndicale for almost a year,” said Émilie Auvray, founder of L’Appartement Français, speaking to RTL.
According to Auvray, “250 [employees] is really the figure that allows the operation to be profitable while preserving as many jobs as possible.”
The immediate goal is to raise 15 million euros in the coming weeks, so the company can be financially ready for the store’s next status update before the court on December 18.
