On Tuesday 27 October 2026, in its 170th year, the department store facing Paris City Hall asked a court for a rescue. Its doors stayed open. So how does a store that has outlived wars and owners run short of cash in its anniversary month?
95/100FiledMax Noble MeterA court process has begun.
By Max Noble · 29 October 2026 · 5 minutes
1The company
Other people’s names, opposite City Hall.
BHV Marais is a department store at 52 rue de Rivoli in Paris, facing City Hall, open since 1856. It sells mostly home goods, DIY and decoration, much of it under other firms’ brands. About 700 people work there.
2What it promised
A relaunch for the 170th birthday.
The store has had three owners in three years. Each promised a comeback.
BHV has returned to profit after years of lossesSGM, the owner, 27 Jan 2025
A surplus only before head-office costs
Le fonctionnement du magasin est assuré (the store’s operations are assured)Its chair and chief executive, 20 Jul 2026
A court request three months later
37 brands back after the summer, and the ground floor open again in SeptemberIts chair and chief executive, 20 Jul 2026
Ground floor reopened on 10 September
One minute read. Four to go.
Your turn · The Max Noble CEO Game
🇫🇷 France · Department store, ParisBBHV Marais95MeterBBHV MaraisDepartment store, ParisWarningMax Noble Meter95 of 100In its 170th year, the store opposite Paris City Hall stays open while a judge decides. Read the story↗︎
🇫🇷 France · Department store, ParisBBHV Marais95MeterBBHV MaraisDepartment store, ParisDeadlineVerdict day · 31 March 2027153 daysWhat to watch: Whether the court opens the rescue, and who funds the months that follow.
🇫🇷 France · Department store, ParisBBHV Marais95MeterBBHV MaraisDepartment store, Paris
Will BHV Marais stay out of court until 31 March?
Yes meansIt keeps going without asking a court for protection by 31 Mar 2027.
Max Noble Odds: 34% chance of Yes. They move with every call. Against the odds you win more, and lose more.
The small print, in plain words
Yes means
It keeps going without asking a court for protection by 31 Mar 2027.
No means
It asks a court to protect it from its lenders by then.
List the five partners, suppliers or brands your customers come to you for, and check how many days you take to pay each. If the days are rising, or one has quietly cut its range with you, you are spending trust. This week, call the most important one and ask what would make them sell more through you.
In your investments
Before you put money into a retailer or platform that sells other firms’ brands, check whether those brands are arriving or leaving, and how long the company takes to pay its suppliers. Slower and slower payment to suppliers, while sales fall, is a warning, however famous the address. Read the news on its partners, not only on the company.
In your career
The career mistake is to sell the bold deal to your board without asking the partners it will upset. Before you sponsor a partnership, write down who could leave because of it, and ask them. If you already backed a deal that drove partners away, say so first, and bring a plan to win back the one that matters most.
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Sales that fell off a cliff, in one chart
The week the famous brands walked out
Three moves before the judge decides
That didn't go through. Check the address and try again.
Free. No noise. One reply is enough to leave the list. Not investment advice.
3What it delivered
The brands left. Then the money did.
In the early 1850s Xavier Ruel sold goods from carts in Paris, and he chose the spot near City Hall because it paid best. In 1856 he and Marie-Madeleine Poncerry opened a shop on the rue de Rivoli.
In November 2023 Galeries Lafayette sold the store to SGM, after 32 years. In 2024 sales fell about 8%, to about €260 million, SGM said. The profit it reported came before head-office costs.
That August, reports began that some brands had gone unpaid for months, and that some suppliers had stopped deliveries.
On 1 October 2025, SGM announced a permanent Shein store inside BHV. That month, Dior and Guerlain stopped selling there. A public bank that had planned to help buy the building walked away.
In spring 2026 the store handed back more than half its space to its new landlord. Sales in 2025 were about €170 million, and about €21 million so far in 2026, press figures show.
BHV Marais sales (€m, press and company figures)
Every bar lower, and the last one a cliff. No filed accounts were opened; 2016 from Businesscoot, 2024 from SGM via FashionNetwork, 2025 and 2026 from press figures cited by Economie Matin, 28 Oct 2026.
4Why it’s on the list
A store without its brands.
A department store rents its floor to brands. The customer pays the store, and the store pays the brand at the end of the month. When cash is short, the brands become unwilling lenders.
By May 2026, 17 small brands were taking the store to court over unpaid bills, FashionUnited reported.
The customers came for the names on the shelves.
In June 2026 SGM sold the store to four of its managers at a negative price, AFP reported. In July the new chair said operations were assured.
On 27 October the store asked a French commercial court for a redressement judiciaire. It says money it expected for the space it handed back was never paid. Its landlord, Brookfield, says it categorically denies owing BHV any sum.
In my view, the Shein deal was the moment the brands’ trust broke. The store is open, and a judge now decides what comes next.
How BHV reached the court
170 years to the court, three owners in the last three. Sources: Wikipedia; CB News/AFP; FashionNetwork.
5What it should do now
Three moves before the judge decides.
1
Pay every new brand sale on time.
Keep the brands’ money in a separate account and pay it out on the day it is due. Trust is the only stock the store cannot buy.
2
Find the money for the months ahead.
A rescue needs cash to reach the plan. Line up a backer for the observation period before Christmas.
3
Settle the landlord question.
The biggest disputed sum is with Brookfield. Ask the court for a timetable and a mediator, so the answer comes in months, not years.
BANKRUPT Law No. 22
Guard the Brands That Bring the Crowds
Paris, the early 1850s. A young man named Xavier Ruel sold goods from carts, and he chose the spot near City Hall because it paid best. By 1856 he had a shop on the rue de Rivoli. For 170 years, the great brands came to his store. On 1 October 2025, its owner announced a permanent Shein store. That month, Dior and Guerlain stopped selling there. By May 2026, small brands were taking the store to court over unpaid bills. On 27 October 2026, in its 170th year, BHV asked a court for a rescue. A department store sells borrowed names. Without them, it is a very handsome car park. Guard the brands that bring the crowds.
— Max Noble
BHV sold other firms’ names for 170 years; when the brands lost faith in it, the crowds and the cash went with them.
Have you made a big move this year without asking the partners your customers come for?
This question is about your company, not BHV Marais.
In your company
List the five partners, suppliers or brands your customers come to you for, and check how many days you take to pay each. If the days are rising, or one has quietly cut its range with you, you are spending trust. This week, call the most important one and ask what would make them sell more through you.
In your investments
Before you put money into a retailer or platform that sells other firms’ brands, check whether those brands are arriving or leaving, and how long the company takes to pay its suppliers. Slower and slower payment to suppliers, while sales fall, is a warning, however famous the address. Read the news on its partners, not only on the company.
In your career
The career mistake is to sell the bold deal to your board without asking the partners it will upset. Before you sponsor a partnership, write down who could leave because of it, and ask them. If you already backed a deal that drove partners away, say so first, and bring a plan to win back the one that matters most.
FashionNetwork (AFP), 27 Oct 2026: request for redressement judiciaire; store open; about 700 staff; old debts frozen; BHV’s account of the unpaid indemnities · fashionnetwork.com
AFP via Boursorama, 27 Oct 2026: Brookfield denies owing BHV any sum · boursorama.com
AFP via Boursorama, 28 Oct 2026: more than half the store handed back in spring; observation period · boursorama.com
Sortiraparis, 27 Oct 2026: the court must still decide; hearing reported for 30 October · sortiraparis.com
FashionNetwork, 27 Jan 2025: 2024 sales down about 8%; surplus before head-office costs · fashionnetwork.com
AFP via FashionUnited, 21 Jul 2026: relaunch plan; “le fonctionnement du magasin est assuré”; 37 brands · fashionunited.fr
FashionUnited, 11 May 2026: unpaid brands; 17 small brands in court; how the consignment model pays brands · fashionunited.fr
CB News/AFP, 16 Jun 2026: sold to four managers at a negative price · cbnews.fr
CB News/AFP, 8 Oct 2025: Shein deal; Banque des Territoires ends talks on the building · cbnews.fr
L'Express Franchise, 28 Oct 2026: ground floor reopened on 10 September · lexpress-franchise.com
Economie Matin, 28 Oct 2026: press sales figures for 2025 and 2026 · economiematin.fr
Businesscoot: 2016 sales of €306.5m (secondary) · businesscoot.com
Wikipedia: BHV (founding in 1856; Galeries Lafayette 1991–2023; unpaid vendors from August 2024; Dior and Guerlain) · en.wikipedia.org
BHV Marais has asked a court for a redressement judiciaire; no court had ruled when this was written. No filed accounts were opened: sales figures come from the company and the press, and some differ. The three moves and the law are Max Noble’s analysis. Not investment advice.
The Max Noble CEO Game · by Max Noble
Your turn. Does BHV Marais survive?
Tomorrow: the 30 October date. Make your call, beat the other players, and climb the board.
Pick one, then see what the other players chose and which move I would make.
Where it could bite you · BANKRUPT Law No. 22
Guard the Brands That Bring the Crowds
The same mistake, in your own world. Free, from the book.
In your company
List the five partners, suppliers or brands your customers come to you for, and check how many days you take to pay each. If the days are rising, or one has quietly cut its range with you, you are spending trust. This week, call the most important one and ask what would make them sell more through you.
In your investments
Before you put money into a retailer or platform that sells other firms’ brands, check whether those brands are arriving or leaving, and how long the company takes to pay its suppliers. Slower and slower payment to suppliers, while sales fall, is a warning, however famous the address. Read the news on its partners, not only on the company.
In your career
The career mistake is to sell the bold deal to your board without asking the partners it will upset. Before you sponsor a partnership, write down who could leave because of it, and ask them. If you already backed a deal that drove partners away, say so first, and bring a plan to win back the one that matters most.
Buy the bookThe full chapter, with the case, the way back and the keys, is in The 42 Laws of BANKRUPT.