The Conran Shop draws the curtain. The furniture and design store, which opened its doors in 1992, rue du Bac, in Paris, near the Bon Marché, is closing its doors permanently, “no later than December 31”, specifies its direction. While it is carrying out a liquidation operation by selling its last pieces, including exhibition furniture, the brand founded by Sir Terence Conran, creator of Habitat in 1964, who died in 2020, is looking pale.
Loss-making for several years, the Parisian store has been owned since 2020 by a British businessman, Javad Marandi, who bought The Conran Shop brand created in 1974 and continues to operate it across the Channel. In France, its turnover reached 13 million euros in its 2022-2023 financial year, while its losses amounted to 2.5 million euros.
Since January, The Conran Shop has been managed by the firm Prospheres, a specialist in business restructuring. According to one of its fifty-three employees scheduled for dismissal, a transfer project did not come to fruition. It remains to be seen what the fate of this premises, owned by Le Bon Marché, a subsidiary of the LVMH group, will be.
A fragile sector
The closure of this very high-end store, in the heart of 7e arrondissement, one of the most exclusive districts of the capital, says a lot about the fragility of the sector. In fact, after going through the crisis induced by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the distribution of home equipment is now in crisis. All segments are affected. The Habitat furniture brand, specializing in home furnishings and equipment, was placed in receivership on Wednesday December 6 by the Bobigny court, management told AFP. Two months earlier, on October 9, the Maisons du Monde chain, known for its lowest prices, published a profit warning for its current financial year.
This is not the only sector suffering on the eve of end-of-year purchases. The Commerce Alliance estimates that clothing sales fell 2% in November compared to November 2022, despite Black Friday promotions. According to this federation of city center commerce, the turnover of this operation supposed to launch the prosperous period of Christmas gift sales fell by 1.9% during the week of November 20 to 27.
In October, the French Fashion Institute estimated the fall in activity of clothing and textile stores at 7.3% compared to October 2022. Finally, the toy sector is wondering about the intentions of purchase by the French at Christmas: sales of games and toys fell by 4.5% between January and October, compared to the same period in 2022, according to the specialized trade federation Procos.