BHV Marais seeks judicial reorganisation as landlord Brookfield denies owing compensation

The filing

The Paris department store BHV Marais has asked for judicial reorganisation, a request announced on Tuesday 27 October 2026. Most reports place the filing with the economic activities court in Lyon, although Le Temps gives Paris as the court. The store, founded in 1856 as the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville, will stay open during the process, according to management, which describes the business as short of cash and employing 700 people based on September figures. The procedure opens an observation period of six months, renewable for six more, after which a continuation plan can be put to the court. In an interview with Le Figaro, president Karl-Stéphane Cottendin called the request a deliberate decision.

“Asking for judicial reorganisation is a deliberate decision. It is a strategic step in the restructuring we are carrying out.”

The president's case against the landlord

Cottendin, who took over the store in June, accuses the landlord, the Canadian fund Brookfield, of failing to pay the compensation owed in exchange for handing back more than half of the premises in spring. According to the company's statement, the recovery plan depends on an investment programme financed by those contractual payments, which were never made. Without that money, the company says, restocking and the reorganisation of the retained space could not go ahead, and the relaunch stalled. The statement also points to riots in central Paris on Saturdays before the filing, which ended with looting of the ground floor and added pressure on a cash position already under strain. The recovery plan had been unveiled in July, despite a financial dispute with the owner of the walls.

The landlord's rejection

Brookfield rejects these accusations. In a statement sent to AFP, the fund said it categorically denies owing BHV any sum to date. It points to the lease signed by both parties on 27 January 2026, under which compensation is payable only once the premises have been returned in compliance, a condition it says is BHV's responsibility and has not been met. Brookfield argues that the store's recovery does not depend on the landlord and that BHV's failure to meet its own commitments caused the current situation. The fund's position therefore puts the dispute on the conditions of the lease rather than on the amount itself.

Political and labour reactions

Commerce Minister Serge Papin said on Wednesday 28 October that BHV was paying for a strategic error in its offer. He pointed to the partnership with the Asian fashion company Shein, which moved into the building at the end of 2025 and drew criticism. Separately, the labour inspectorate suspects that the business, resold at a loss in June by the SGM group of Frédéric Merlin to some of its executives, is in cessation of payments, a claim management contests. Cottendin says the store remains open and its teams are still in post.

What happens next

The company says the procedure is designed to protect brands and suppliers that return to the store, who would be paid when due and with the priority the law gives them. According to the statement, it also freezes earlier liabilities and sets a timetable to enforce agreements the landlord has signed.

“This procedure is, for BHV, the framework of the recovery, not its failure.”

If the observation period runs its course, a continuation plan would then be presented to the court.