Benetton: Boulevard Haussmann flagship to close in late July

By

Jean-Paul Leroy

Published
Jun 26, 2015

In late 2014, the Benetton family’s holding company had already sold the building it owned on Paris’ Boulevard Haussmann (8th arrondissement) across from Printemps, in which it operated a Benetton store, to the US investor Thor Equities for 140 million euros. Now, the store is about to be closed.

According to a report that FashionMag.com has confirmed by Benetton, the brand will leave Boulevard Haussmann on July 31. The 43,000 square-foot store covered five levels. It shouldn’t remain long without a tenant. Forever 21 has already been mentioned as a possible successor, although it has officially denied the report. 

It’s, meanwhile, not the only Benetton store to close in Paris. A George Hogg store, which was focused on knitwear and was certainly far smaller, recently closed. The latter was opened as a new concept in 2011.

Benetton has accounted the closure of its Boulevard Haussmann flagship by referring a strategy based on smaller locations between 2150 and 13,000 ft2, with the introduction of a new concept, dubbed canvas. It has already opened locations in Nice and on Boulevard Saint-Michel in Paris. Since the reopening of these units, sales appear to have increased by 20%. 

This strategy is also being implemented at one of the retailer’s other Parisian locations: Benetton’s store at Place de l’Opéra (2nd arrondissement). According to the Italian company, the store will reopen in September.