The Asian ‘fast-fashion’ giant Shein opens its first permanent physical store in the world on Wednesday, November 5, in Paris, at the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (BHV), Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), owner of the space, announced today.
Still in November, Shein is expected to open five more stores in France, in Galeries Lafayette, also operated by SGM.
It will be on the 6th floor of the historic Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (BHV) that the brand, whose factories are mostly located in China, will display its thousands of items at low cost, despite the strong controversy.
“BHV Shein on November 5th, opening at 13:00”, published the president of SGM, Frédéric Merlin, on the social network Instagram today, adding “world premiere” to emphasize that this will be the first physical and permanent store in the world for this hitherto exclusively online platform, founded in China in 2012 and headquartered in Singapore.
Despite reservations and opposition from the Government, Paris City Hall, BHV’s partner brands, the BHV workers’ union and several agents in the French textile sector, in addition to an online petition with more than 110,000 signatures, the alliance between Shein and BHV will thus come to fruition.
Shein and Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), owner of BHV since 2023, will open a space of more than 1,000 square meters, this being the first step in the physical implementation of Shein before investing in five other stores in Galeries Lafayette in Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges, also owned by SGM.
Target of a proposed law against the growth of ‘fast-fashion’, Shein this year received three fines in France, totaling 191 million euros, for non-compliance with legislation on ‘online cookies’, false promotions, misleading information and for not having declared the presence of plastic microfibers in its products.