The Société des Grands Magasins, or SGM, co-founded by Frédéric Merlin, announced today that it is selling the business operations of BHV Marais to the “management team” of the Parisian department store, which has decided to “end” its much-criticized partnership with Shein, calling it a “strategic error.”
The Société des Grands Magasins, which has operated BHV Marais since 2023, has accepted the proposal put forward by Karl-Stéphane Cottendin, former CEO of BHV and the SGM group, who stepped down from his position for this purpose and aims to reposition the department store toward home goods, both parties announced to journalists, including AFP.
This announcement also concerns BHV Parly 2 in the Yvelines department of France, but not the seven provincial BHV stores — formerly Galeries Lafayette — which are still managed by SGM and five of which hosted the problematic Asian fast fashion brand Shein within their walls this year.
The November opening at the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville, in the heart of Paris, of the first permanent brick-and-mortar store bearing the Shein brand — a platform accused of destroying French retail among other things — had sparked an outcry. It also accelerated the exodus of brands such as Dior, Sandro and Guerlain, which had been burned by unpaid bills or were unhappy with the arrival of the Asian giant.
This “experiment” was “a strategic mistake,” admits Karl-Stéphane Cottendin seven months later, for whom Shein will “ideally” have left the BHV Marais by Christmas. Accompanied by BHV Marais’ Marketing Director Valérie Chaleyssin, Artistic Director Medy Ty and HR Director Élodie Nho — the former right-hand woman of Frédéric Merlin, who spearheaded this acquisition — he intends to refocus BHV Marais “on its historic core business: home goods, DIY, home decor, furniture, lighting, culinary items, tableware, linens, arts and crafts, appliances, bedding, books, etc.," according to a press release.
“A significant portion of the capital of the new entity” created for this purpose “will be open to all BHV employees,” numbering approximately 700 in Paris.
Acknowledging that he had made “mistakes,” Frédéric Merlin told the press that this was “a genuine plan for an effective takeover by serious people.” “This store was supposed to close” before its acquisition by Galeries Lafayette. “I fought to try to keep it alive” but “the deal fell through,” with the failure of SGM’s purchase of the BHV Marais building, which has been owned since January by the Canadian fund Brookfield, he explained.
