BHV management wants to be reassuring about the future of the store, ahead of a CSE

The mayor of the capital is thus quoted in the SGM press release: "I have confidence in the capacity of SGM and I am counting on Frédéric Merlin", the boss of this small property company, to "continue to make BHV shine", assures Anne Hidalgo.

Management has once again been reassuring, as concerns emerged over the summer regarding the financial health of the iconic department store.

She attributes difficulties in paying suppliers to an "exceptional and transitory situation" linked to invoice management tools, and says she wants to "continue to focus on the strongholds" of the store, citing DIY, home and leisure.

The unions hope to gain more clarity on the company's situation at the CSE meeting scheduled for this Friday.

Located in the centre of the capital and employing more than 1.300 people - not including many demonstrators working for the brands sold there - BHV has been experiencing difficulties for several years.

Its former owner, Galeries Lafayette, had carried out a series of renovations to revive it, before selling it at the end of 2023 to the Lyon property company SGM.

But several sources and press articles indicate that suppliers are having difficulty getting paid since the change of ownership.

"Nine months after the takeover, unpaid bills continue to accumulate and brands are threatening to withdraw. A situation that 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, united 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 concerns.

In the BHV press release on Friday, Anne Hidalgo said she was "very attached" to the fact that the department store, which "makes our city shine beyond its borders while attracting a local clientele", "can preserve its DNA".