Galeries Lafayette continues to offload to better focus on its department stores.
The group has entered into exclusive negotiations with the Société des Grands Magasins to sell it the BHV Marais, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.
The transaction also includes the Parly 2 BHV in the Yvelines, shops adjoining the BHV Marais, as well as the walls of Eataly, a food store dedicated to Italian gastronomy, which gives pride of place to catering.
The Galeries Lafayette group will retain the operation of Eataly.
Read alsoThe great return to form of Galeries Lafayette
The BHV Marais entered the group's fold thirty years ago, at the same time as certain department stores in the provinces.
The level of its activity had not given satisfaction to Galeries Lafayette for more than ten years.
The store suffered from a fiercer competitive environment with the rise of e-commerce.
The difficulties of access to this part of the rue de Rivoli since the closure to cars of the lanes on the banks, and the development of cycle paths, have increased these difficulties, which the covid has further reinforced.
Also weakened by the health crisis, the Galeries Lafayette group is selling assets to focus on its flagship on Boulevard Haussmann, its 17 large provincial Lafayette galleries and its international development.
"
The step we are considering today, with the project to sell BHV Marais, should allow us to accelerate the implementation of our strategy, to focus all our efforts on achieving our ambitions and to free up resources. to carry them out more quickly by definitively turning the page on Covid and its impact on our activity
”, explains Nicolas Houzé, general manager of Galeries Lafayette and BHV Marais.
The group knows the buyer well, the young property company Société des Grands Magasins, having already sold it seven Galeries Lafayette in the provinces in which it is investing.
