Paris Court Opens Reorganisation for BHV Marais, Which Employs About 700 and Stays Open

The Tribunal des activités économiques de Paris placed the BHV Marais department store under redressement judiciaire, a court-supervised reorganisation, on Monday, 2 November 2026. The request came from the store’s management. The procedure covers the company SEGM BHV. The store said it would remain open.

The filing followed a cash shortage that management attributes partly to a dispute with Brookfield, the Canadian fund that owns the building. Brookfield denies owing the store any money at present.

How the Procedure Works for the Store and Its Creditors

Redressement judiciaire is open to a company in cessation de paiements when the court judges that its recovery is possible.

While the procedure runs, creditors whose claims predate its opening cannot pursue them through the courts or enforce earlier judgments. Dismissals are limited to urgent, essential and unavoidable economic cases, which the judge must authorise.

AFP-based reports give the observation period as six months, renewable once for six months. The official guide sets a ceiling of 18 months in total. At the end, the court may approve a continuation plan of up to ten years, a sale of all or part of the business, or liquidation.

Procedure at a Glance
Under French redressement judiciaire, the observation period lasts up to six months and can be renewed, with a total ceiling of 18 months, according to the official service-public.fr guide. The court can then approve a continuation plan or a sale, or order liquidation.

The Brookfield Lease Dispute at the Centre of the Filing

According to Brookfield, the lease was signed by both parties on 27 January 2026. Under its reading, indemnities are payable only after the space is returned in compliant condition, and the work to bring it into compliance falls to the store. In a statement to AFP on 27 October, Brookfield said it firmly denies owing any sum at present.

Management says the store returned more than half of its floor space to the landlord in the spring, and that the indemnities agreed in return were never paid. It says their absence blocked restocking and refitting of the part it kept. Karl-Stéphane Cottendin, who took over the store in June, said the store lacks the cash owed to it.

Brookfield rejects that account. It also says the store’s recovery does not depend on the landlord, and attributes the situation to the store’s failure to meet its own commitments.

About 700 Staff, Creditors and the Store’s Retail Position

The company covers the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville in Paris and BHV Parly 2 in the Yvelines, and employs about 700 people, according to La Gazette France. RTBF reports that the company was sold at a loss in June by the SGM group.

Employee representatives had asked for the procedure. In a statement reported by Sud Radio, they said continuing under the current leadership is doomed to fail, and that only a solid, well-funded takeover could maintain activity and save some jobs. Nicolas Bonnet-Oulaldj, deputy mayor of Paris for employment, said staff should not become the adjustment variable of a failing management.

For the store’s retail operations, the dispute centres on a lease term that ties compensation to returned space. Management links its cash gap to unpaid indemnities, while Brookfield’s position is that nothing is due until the space is returned in compliant condition.

Management says the store lacks the cash owed to it, while Brookfield says nothing is due until the space is returned in compliant condition.

Hearing, Venue and What Happens Next

Management first said it would file in Lyon, according to Sud Radio, but turned to the Paris court instead, where a creditor-summons procedure had been opened several months earlier. The hearing took place on Friday, 30 October, behind closed doors for about two and a half hours. Sud Radio also reports that management admitted the store was in faillite (bankruptcy), after earlier saying it was not in cessation de paiements.

Management said the court’s protection should quickly allow talks with Brookfield to move forward. As of 2 November 2026, no date for a decision on the store’s longer-term future has been reported. The latest Brookfield statement reported is from 27 October.