The BHV has been hit hard by the covid-19 epidemic, reducing the flow of tourists and workers in the city center of the capital. (Martin Bureau/AFP)
A Parisian monument in the purse of a small property company from Lyon? Galeries Lafayette, owners of the famous Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (BHV) since the beginning of the 1990s, announced on Thursday that they were in “exclusive negotiations” with the SGM to sell it to them.
An old liner almost 170 years old taken over by the two thirty-year-old founders of the Société des Grands Magasins (SGM)… If the operation is completed, the BHV created in 1856 by Xavier Ruel could leave the bosom of Galeries Lafayette that he had joined in the early 1990s.
The sale, which includes a BHV store located in the Westfield Parly 2 shopping center in Yvelines, near Versailles, remains “subject to the usual information-consultation processes as well as to the authorization of the Competition Authority” , but should take place in 2023, according to a joint press release from the two parties.
The Galeries Lafayette explain there “planning to pass on the torch of BHV Marais to a family player” who wants to “continue its development with the help of its teams while preserving employment”.
Specialist in declining assets
The BHV has been in difficulty for years, further aggravated recently, according to the management of the store, by road traffic, made complicated for cars by the redevelopment of the rue de Rivoli, where the BHV is located. It had also been hard hit by the covid-19 epidemic, reducing the flow of tourists and workers in the city center of the capital.
Proof of the symbolic importance of this store, the joint press release quotes the first deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, who explains that this is a “major economic player in the rue de Rivoli, (… ) once again become an extremely dynamic commercial artery of the capital”, and that the city is “ready to work with the future buyer”, “in respect of this unique architectural and intangible heritage”.
We started our business with a student loan of 15,000 euros each
The buyer, SGM, is a small commercial property company, founded by Frédéric and Maryline Merlin, young thirtysomethings and brother and sister. At the end of 2021, they had already bought seven regional stores from Galeries Lafayette, in Angers, Dijon, Grenoble, Le Mans, Limoges, Orléans and Reims.
SGM also operates around ten city center shopping centers in France, Espace Grand’Rue in Roubaix, Espace Saint-Christophe in Tourcoing, the Galerie de l’Hôtel de Ville in Châlons-en-Champagne, Les Tanneurs in Lille, Nîmes Étoile, Océanis in Saint-Nazaire, Okabé in Kremlin-Bicêtre, Porte Jeune in Mulhouse, SQY Ouest in Montigny-le-Bretonneux.
The group specializes in the rehabilitation of downtown commercial assets in decline, thus intending “to contribute to the revitalization of city centers, particularly in medium-sized towns, by taking over existing sites to renovate and revitalize them. “.
“My sister and I are passionate about commerce”, Frédéric Merlin explained to Challenges magazine at the end of 2021. “We set up our business with a student loan of 15,000 euros each. Initially, we created a real estate operator who bought buildings, then our property company, the Société des Grands Magasins (SGM)”.
“At the time, institutional investors, very sheepish, all bought offices. However, we had identified commercial assets in the city center with exceptional land, but left in disuse”.
Refocus on Boulevard Haussmann
The operation of Eataly Paris Marais and the Lafayette Anticipations Foundation, two entities located near the BHV, “remain in the portfolio of assets of the Galeries Lafayette group”, specifies the joint press release.
For the Galeries Lafayette group, the operation is a way to “focus its efforts and available resources on its eponymous brand, to replenish its cash following the full impact of the covid crisis”, and to refocus around its “flagship” on Boulevard Haussmann.
The group also says it wants to “become fully omnichannel”, that is to say, better articulate its sales in its stores and online and “data-oriented to better serve and retain its customers”, thanks to the use of commercial data.
Galeries Lafayette also talks about their “targeted” international ambitions, in high-potential territories such as “China, India or the Middle East”.
