The BHV Marais department store in central Paris announced the end of its cooperation with Chinese ultra-fast fashion firm Shein, which could see the e-commerce platform’s first physical store closed by this Christmas. La Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), owner of the historic BHV Marais, which sits opposite Paris City Hall a few hundred meters from the Notre-Dame cathedral, has sold the store to a group of executives led by Karl-Stephane Cottendin, the group’s outgoing CEO. Cottendin, who publicly defended the decision to open a Shein store at BHV Marais last November, admitted seven months later that the decision was a “strategic error”.
The department store was largely deserted during the first half of this year, as many brands chose to end their contract with BHV in protest over the decision to allow Shein to open a store. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire welcomed the move to oust Shein. A second BHV store west of Paris will also come under new management, while SGM will retain control of seven other locations, five of which have welcomed Shein this year.
The news marks another setback for Shein in the French market. The e-commerce platform was recently fined €22 million by the French authorities for breaching consumer protection laws. In total, France has fined the group €210 million over the past year. The opening of the store caused an outcry in French society when it was first announced last year. Protests broke out on the day of its opening and Frédéric Merlin, President of SGM, was summoned to testify before the French National Assembly in November and the Senate in January. Critics in France have long questioned Shein’s labor and environmental practices, while voicing concern over its impact on the domestic fashion industry, the South China Morning Post reports.
