Shein faces exit from Paris department store after backlash

A department store in central Paris announced on Tuesday the end of its cooperation with Chinese ultra-fast fashion giant Shein, which, French media reported, could see the e-commerce platform’s first physical store closed by this Christmas.

La Societe des Grands Magasins (SGM), owner of the historic BHV Marais, which sits opposite Paris City Hall a few hundred meters from Notre-Dame cathedral, has sold the store to a group of executives, led by Karl-Stephane Cottendin, the group’s outgoing CEO, according to a statement from the company. Agence France-Presse reported that SGM sold the store at a loss.

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” and said Shein would “ideally” leave the store by Christmas, AFP reported.

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.

In May, as videos of the empty floors spread on social media, SGM President Frederic Merlin attributed the deserted space in an Instagram post to ongoing renovation work.

Shein did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the South China Morning Post.