The Conran Shop draws the curtain. The furniture and design store, which opened in 1992 on Paris's Rue du Bac, near Le Bon Marché, is closing its doors for good "by December 31 at the latest," according to its management. The company, founded by Sir Terence Conran, creator of Habitat in 1964 and who died in 2020, is now in the throes of a liquidation operation, selling off its last pieces, including showroom furniture.
In a deficit 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 from across the Channel. In France, sales reached €13 million in its 2022-2023 financial year, while losses amounted to €2.5 million.
Since January, The Conran Shop has been managed by Prospheres, a firm specializing in corporate restructuring. According to one of its 53 employees who were made redundant, a proposed sale fell through. It remains to be seen what will happen to the premises, owned by Le Bon Marché, a subsidiary of the LVMH group.
The closure of the high-end store in the heart of the 7th arrondissement, one of the capital's most posh districts, speaks volumes about the sector's fragility. In fact, after going through the crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the home furnishings distribution industry is now in crisis, with all segments affected. The Habitat home furnishings chain was placed in receivership on December 6 by the Bobigny court. Two months earlier, on October 9, the Maisons du Monde chain, known for having the lowest prices, issued a profit warning for its current financial year.
It is not the only sector suffering on the eve of end-of-year shopping. The Trade Alliance estimates that clothing sales fell by 2% in November compared to November 2022, despite Black Friday promotions. According to the federation of city-center retailers, sales from the operation, which is supposed to kick off the boom in Christmas gift sales, fell by 1.9% during the week of November 20 to 27.
In October, the French Institute of Fashion estimated a drop of 7.3% in business for clothing and textile stores compared to October 2022. Finally, the toy sector is wondering about French Christmas buying intentions: Sales of games and toys fell by 4.5% between January and October, compared to the same period in 2022, according to the specialist trade federation Procos.