Originally announced for late 2025, Shein stores will open on Wednesday in four BHV (formerly Galeries Lafayette) department stores in the provinces, four months after the outcry sparked by the opening of the world's first store of the ultra-fast-fashion Asian brand at BHV Marais in Paris.
These openings in Limoges, Angers, Dijon, Grenoble and Reims are the result of a partnership unveiled in October by the operator of BHV – Société des Grands Magasins, co-founded by Frédéric Merlin – and online retail giant Shein, which is regularly accused of unfair competition and environmental pollution.
In mid-November, Frédéric Merlin announced the postponement of regional openings amid a media storm following the discovery of sex dolls resembling young girls and Category A firearms on the section of the Shein website dedicated to third-party sellers. The CEO cited the need to "adapt the offering" and "pricing policy" so as not to "frustrate customers," 10 days after the opening of a permanent Shein brick-and-mortar store, the first in the world, in the historic Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville in Paris.
The rollout of the new Shein spaces, ranging from 500 to 1,000 square meters depending on the city, will be "gradual," Shein and SGM said in a statement.
Initially, the offering, which will mainly be "winter" items, will be "essentially identical" in the BHV stores concerned, Shein's spokesperson in France, Quentin Ruffat, told AFP. Then, "from the beginning of April," it will include more "seasonal items" and products "in line with locally observed preferences."
Shein will now be responsible for orders and product selection, while SGM will continue to manage sales staff, he added. "We are going to change our operating model," with BHV receiving "a commission on sales," Merlin told the Le Figaro newspaper on Friday. And if the Shein experiment "doesn't work in a year, we'll stop. " In Paris, it has not yet borne fruit, despite 5,000 daily visitors, Merlin acknowledged in January before the Senate.
'Popular success'
Customers had the "impression" that prices were higher than online, which was not the case, according to Quentin Ruffat, who does not rule out "commercial operations" in the regions and promises a "wider choice," with larger sizes, children's fashion, etc. Some 95% of French customers of the Shein platform live outside Paris, Lyon and Marseille, he insists, claiming "25 million unique users" and "popular success."
The partnership with SGM sparked an outcry in the fall among retailers and some politicians, including the Socialist Party mayor of Dijon, Nathalie Koenders, and the Green Party mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle. Opposed to Shein's arrival in locations bearing its name, the Galeries Lafayette group terminated its contract with SGM for seven stores in the provinces, renamed BHV.
Around 100 brands (Guerlain, Dior, Sandro, and so on) have left the Parisian department store in protest against the partnership with Shein or late payments. "We won't get our customers back as long as Shein is there," the BHV inter-union committee in Paris recently lamented to AFP.
Should we expect new waves of protests in the provinces, especially with municipal elections approaching? "The aim of this partnership is to show that we can have a positive impact" on other brands and on the "revitalization of city centers," replied Ruffat, assuring that he wants to attract "a young" and "connected" clientele. However, the platform, founded in 2012 in China and now based in Singapore, is crystallizing tensions around the regulation of online commerce and disposable fashion.
Last week, the European Union launched an investigation into Shein over child-like sex dolls, suspecting the platform of several violations of its rules. In France, the French government is calling for the blocking of Shein's marketplace, reserved for third-party sellers, after failing to obtain a total ban on the site. The court is due to rule on March 19.