Is the famous institution on Rue de Rivoli in danger? The management of the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (BHV), now owned by the property company Société des grands magasins (SGM), expressed its confidence in the future this Friday, ahead of a social and economic committee (CSE). Concerns emerged during the summer regarding the financial health of the iconic department store.
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BHV management attributes supplier payment difficulties to a “exceptional and transitional situation » in connection with invoice management tools. She says she wants to « continue to focus on strongholds » of the store, citing DIY, home and leisure.
Unions express their concerns
For their part, the unions hope to gain more clarity on the company’s situation at the CSE meeting scheduled for this Friday. Nine months after the takeover, unpaid bills continue to pile up and brands are threatening to pull out. A situation we have never experienced before… “, for example, the CGT warned on its website.
The unions of the group, which also has a store in Parly 2, in the Yvelines, gathered in an inter-union (CFDT, CFTC-CSFV, CFE-CGC, CGT, Sud-Solidaires), met with Parisian elected officials at the beginning of September to express their concern. The employee representatives deplored the absence of ” transparent view of the situation » economic of the company.
The head of the Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), Frédéric Merlin, told AFP at the beginning of September that the store ” had been losing 15 million euros a year for many years », more than « the maximum was currently being done to make its activity profitable ” quickly. The SGM management further assured that ” BHV only experiences delivery problems for less than ten suppliers out of 1000 ».
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Support from Anne Hidalgo
The BHV can nevertheless claim the support of the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. The mayor of the capital is even quoted in the SGM press release: ” I have confidence in SGM’s ability and I count on Frédéric Merlin “, the boss of this small property company, for ” keep shining “BHV,” assures Anne Hidalgo. She also says, ” very attached » that the department store which ” makes our city shine beyond its borders while attracting a local clientele”« can preserve its DNA”.
The second oldest department store in Paris after Le Bon Marché, BHV was founded in 1856 by a merchant from Annonay (Ardèche), François Xavier Ruel, who came to try his luck in Paris after meeting his wife, Marie-Madeleine Poncerry, in Lyon. It was the latter who would take over that year of a store bearing the name of ” Grand Bazaar of the City Hall-Ruel Jeune “, at the corner of Rue de Rivoli and Rue des Archives, detailed a work published in 2016, which presented him as ” the favorite department store of Parisians ».
(With AFP)
