French retail chain Minelli starts liquidation sale ahead of its permanent closure

Retail

Minelli store on Boulevard Saint Michel, Paris, in 2024. Credits: Photo by MAGALI COHEN / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP

By AFP

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Paris - “Liquidation -60 percent”: hastily put up on Wednesday morning, small posters in the window set the tone. As another victim of the ready-to-wear crisis, French shoe retailer Minelli will permanently close its doors after May 30.

The brand's shops, which entered receivership in March for the second time in three years, will remain open until that date. On the social network Instagram, the leather goods and footwear brand, founded in 1973, announced its upcoming closure to its customers “with a heavy heart” and a 60 percent price reduction on products until then. “Orders on the website are unfortunately suspended,” Minelli stated.

In Paris's 6th arrondissement on Wednesday, about ten customers were queuing, cardboard boxes in hand, in a small Minelli store so cramped it was impossible to move around freely.

Surprised customers

“When there are offers or sales, I come,” a regular customer, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP after her purchase. Surprised by the closure of the “high-end” shoemaker, she believes the rise of “online shopping” has been the downfall of Minelli's stores.

Another regular customer, informed of the closure by email, confessed that she thought “the brand was doing rather well.” She insists she tries to buy in-store, using the internet merely as a tool to spot new items.

Before Minelli, numerous brands such as Claire's, Jennyfer, Okaïdi, and IKKS, all accessory or ready-to-wear labels, have been placed in receivership or liquidated in France over the past two years. The sector has been disrupted by new consumer habits and the inflation of energy costs, raw materials, and commercial rents. It also faces competition from second-hand fashion and fast fashion, particularly from low-priced Asian websites.

Bidders for the brand had until May 11 to submit their proposals. However, the half-dozen offers made public on Tuesday last week by the clerk of the Paris Commercial Court are mostly very partial. They only provide for the takeover of one or two of Minelli's 21 points-of-sale, or of the brand without its employees.

Fashion brands Maje (part of the SMCP group) and Father and Sons, optician Jimmy Fairly, and the bakery chain Mie Câline have thus expressed interest in one or two shops.

More surprisingly, the transport and logistics group Baghaira has offered to take over the Minelli brand and its stock (valued at 2.7 million euros). The offer also includes “nine employees” from the Gémenos headquarters (Bouches-du-Rhône) for 300,000 euros, but not its 21 shops and their “77 employees”, focusing instead on e-commerce.

Finally, a former figure in the fashion and watchmaking industry, Philippe Sayada, has proposed a complete takeover for just two euros, under conditions that are yet to be specified.

Devastation

Minelli has announced the closure of its shops, although the court has not yet officially ruled. The receivership proceedings are technically still ongoing. When questioned by AFP in the 6th arrondissement shop, one employee expressed that she did “not have the heart to answer,” while another declined to make a statement on her own behalf.

The brand employs a total of 86 people, according to the offer from the Baghaira group. The Minelli brand had already been placed in receivership in Marseille in 2023.

It was saved at the time by three buyers – investors and the clothing brand “Mes Demoiselles Paris” – and integrated into a new entity, “Maison Minelli”. This new entity has been in receivership since March, following a safeguard procedure.

This rescue came at the expense of many employees, with the workforce reduced from 600 to fewer than 200. The brand lost 3.7 million euros in its last published financial year, 2024-2025.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

Liquidation

Minelli

Receivership