Breaking · 27 October 2026 · 12:00 CET
BHV Marais, the Paris department store, has asked a court for a rescue
In its 170th year, the store opposite Paris City Hall asked a French commercial court on Tuesday for a redressement judiciaire, a court-led rescue.
Confirmed by its management to Le Figaro and AFP on 27 October, and reported the same day by Reuters, FashionNetwork and Sortiraparis.
No court had ruled when I wrote this. AFP named the commercial court in Lyon; Sortiraparis reported a hearing in Paris on Friday 30 October.
On Tuesday 27 October, the head of BHV Marais told Le Figaro that the store was going to court. It asked for a redressement judiciaire: the business keeps trading while its old debts are frozen.
BHV has stood at 52 rue de Rivoli, facing Paris City Hall, since 1856. Galeries Lafayette owned it from 1991 to 2023. Its owner since then, SGM, sold it in June 2026 to a team of its managers at a negative price.
The store says money it expected for handing back more than half its space in the spring has not been paid. Its landlord, Brookfield, says it categorically denies owing BHV any sum to date.
In July, its chair said the store’s operations were assured. He now calls the procedure the framework of the relaunch, not its failure.
The store stays open. A court must still decide whether to open the procedure. I will update this page when it does.
Read the full 5-minute story →
What it means
- For customers: the store stays open, the company says.
- For staff: about 700 people work there. The company says it wants to protect the business and jobs; no job cuts have been announced.
- For brands and suppliers: old bills are frozen, and new deliveries are to be paid as they fall due, the company says.
Follow what happens next.
The Morning Warning List is updated on maxnoble.com every morning, and arrives by email every Monday and Thursday at 05:00. It follows the companies on the edge, before and after they fall.
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- BHV Marais asks for redressement judiciaire (Matthieu Guinebault, AFP, 27 Oct 2026) · fashionnetwork.com
- Upmarket Paris department store asks for court protection (Sudip Kar-Gupta, Reuters, 27 Oct 2026) · globalbankingandfinance.com
- Brookfield denies owing BHV any sum (AFP via Boursorama, 27 Oct 2026) · boursorama.com
- The store stays open: what we know (Sortiraparis, 27 Oct 2026) · sortiraparis.com
- Managers buy the store at a negative price (CB News/AFP, 16 Jun 2026) · cbnews.fr
- The July relaunch plan: “Le fonctionnement du magasin est assuré” (AFP via FashionUnited, 21 Jul 2026) · fashionunited.fr
- BHV (department store), history · en.wikipedia.org
I report what the sources show at the time of writing. If something changes, I update this page and note the change.