PARIS – More than 50,000 people have visited Shein at the BHV during the first five days since it opened there, according to Fréderic Merlin, chief executive officer of the department store’s parent company Société des Grands Magasins in an Instagram post Sunday night.
The location marked the opening of the Chinese ultra-fast-fashion giant’s first brick-and-mortar store anywhere in the world.
“A real whirlwind of faces, laughter and curiosity,” he wrote, adding the average basket had been 45 euros. He said nearly 15 percent of buyers at Shein then went on to purchase in other departments of the BHV.
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“Today, Shein has a face,” Merlin continued. “They are no longer numbers but people. Real, curious and caring customers. And this is undoubtedly what makes criticism more difficult. Attacking Shein is attacking these faces. Will some politicians realize this?”
The executive then made reference to Émile Zola, the writer who focused on department stores as a “place of emancipation and dreams,” Merlin wrote. “The BHV remains faithful to this spirit: open, accessible, deeply human commerce.”
He called the BHV “the store of Parisians, that of everyday life, of concrete things, of real life.”
Online, 80 percent of Shein’s clients are women, but in store, since its opening on Nov. 5, families, couples and friends all shopping together, according to Merlin.
“This is why we are going to expand the capsule with a more complete men’s offering, a children’s area, a wider range of dresses and more accessible basics to suit all lifestyles,” he wrote.
Shein’s opening – and the runup to that – lit a firestorm in France. The retailer has faced fallout from childlike sex dolls and weapons that were for sale on its website in the country prior to the brick-and-mortar debut, as well as its ultra-fast-fashion business model, which many view as disrespectful of the environment and workers’ conditions, among other issues.
Police, protesters and a line stretched down the block on the day Shein debuted.
The French government moved to temporarily suspend Shein’s online platform following the sex doll and weapon controversy, but on Nov. 7 it halted suspension proceedings after those products were removed from the platform. Shein also suspended its marketplace of third-party vendors, where such products were available.
However, Shein remains under close surveillance in France, and numerous legal proceedings remain ongoing.
An update on the situation has been requested by France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who on Friday asked the Paris judicial court to “stop the serious damage to public order caused by Shein’s repeated failures,” according to a press release.
The government also lodged a request with the European Commission for an investigation into Shein, and started four investigations that are now underway in the minors’ office.
The government said that on Nov. 6 a large-scale “strike” operation was kicked off at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport to check Shein packages. That is ongoing, and the government said all cases of detected fraud will lead to sanctions.
As previously reported, on Nov. 4, French department store Galeries Lafayette said it is ending its affiliation with Société des Grands Magasins following public backlash over SGM’s decision to open boutiques for Shein inside its stores. Shein’s arrival has triggered a brand exodus from the BHV, with labels Agnès B., A.P.C., Figaret and Rivedroite leaving.
