BHV Marais enters redressement judiciaire: the store isn't closed, but its debts are frozen. What a customer with an undelivered order can do in France, and what the rules provide for staff wages

What happened

On Monday 2 November, the tribunal des activités économiques (the commercial court) opened redressement judiciaire for SEGM BHV. The company owns the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville department store in Paris and the BHV Parly 2 store in the Yvelines. franceinfo reported the decision, citing a document seen by AFP. Shortly before, management had acknowledged that the company could no longer pay its debts and asked the court to open the procedure, and staff representatives had also been pressing for it. As of September the company employed 700 people. The observation period is six months and can be extended by another six.

The report says nothing about how the stores are trading now, or about gift cards and orders.

Redressement doesn't mean the shop is closing

France has several procedures for companies in trouble, and their names are easy to mix up. Service-public describes redressement judiciaire as a procedure for a company already in cessation des paiements, meaning it can't meet its current debts. The aim is to let it keep trading while its existing debts are frozen.

How it works:

• The observation period lasts up to 6 months. It can be renewed once for up to 6 more months, and a second time at the public prosecutor's request, so up to 18 months in total.
• The company keeps trading. The manager stays in charge, assisted and supervised by an administrateur judiciaire.
• The mandataire judiciaire represents all the creditors and acts in their interest. The juge-commissaire oversees the procedure.
• Possible outcomes: a continuation plan (plan de continuation), the sale of all or part of the business, or liquidation judiciaire if a rescue is impossible. Closing the procedure without any of these is very rare.

So the word 'bankruptcy' in headlines can be misleading. As a general rule, a store in redressement keeps operating.

If you are a customer

Anything you paid for before the court decision and haven't received becomes a claim against the company (a créance). Service-public's page for businesses sets out the procedure (checked 08/10/2026):

• the claim goes to the mandataire judiciaire, whose name appears in the BODACC notice of the decision (bodacc.fr);
• the deadline is 2 months from publication of the decision in the BODACC, or 4 months for a creditor located outside mainland France;
• the claim must be in writing. There is no online portal, and the page recommends a lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception so the date can't be disputed later;
• it states the amount owed on the date of the decision and comes with supporting documents: invoice, order form, delivery note;
• a creditor who misses the deadline is 'forclos' and the claim is ignored. If the delay wasn't the creditor's fault, they can ask the juge-commissaire for a relevé de forclusion within 6 months of publication.

The Institut national de la consommation is frank about the odds: customers are paid after employees, suppliers and Urssaf, so getting money back is unlikely. It makes two more points:

• a card or cheque payment can only be stopped through the bank if the money hasn't been debited yet;
• if the purchase was financed with a crédit affecté (a loan tied to that purchase), nothing is due until delivery. An ordinary personal loan still has to be repaid.

We found no official guidance on gift card balances, and the report doesn't say whether BHV is accepting them now. Keep the card and the receipt, and ask in store.

If you work for a company in redressement

Service-public says wage debts are paid first. If the company has no money for wages, they are paid by the AGS, the wage-guarantee insurance fund. The labour ministry says employees are insured against non-payment of wages owed, and that the mandataire judiciaire is the one who triggers the guarantee. Where the company has a CSE, the CSE appoints a représentant des salariés to represent employees in the procedure.

In short

Redressement doesn't mean the store has closed. But if you paid and haven't received your goods, watch the BODACC: for an ordinary creditor, the two months run from publication of the decision, not from any personal letter.