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MARKS & SPENCER

Marks & Spencer flagship Champs-Elysées store finally set to close

Upmarket British chain Marks & Spencer will close the doors of its Champs-Elysées store for the final time on Tuesday.

Marks & Spencer flagship Champs-Elysées store finally set to close
Marks & Spencer, Champs-Elysées. Photo: AFP
The closure is set to take place on October 31st, just six years after the company returned to France's most famous avenue. 
 
And as a result, 517 members of staff are set to lose their jobs. 
 
As compensation, the company will continue to pay their normal salary for one year and give up to €12,000 towards further training, reported Le Monde
 
According to union Seci-Unsa, this “could cost the British company to €20 million”.  
 
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Photo: AFP
 
This closure is the final non-food store to close in France following Beaugrenelle (Paris 15th arrondissement), So Ouest in the French capital's northwestern suburbs, Aéroville in the northeastern suburbs and Quartz to the north of the capital, which all closed in September.
 
Even though M&S Food Hausmann (La 'Chaussée D'Antin') and M&S Food Saint Lazare (La Pepiniere) were among those set for closure, they are currently still open. 
 
It's not bad news for everyone however with Marks & Spencer planning to keep its 17 food shops and online presence in France. 
 
Among the stores not affected by the company's French closures are M&S Food Charles De Gaulle Airport T2E, M&S Food Chatelet Les Halles RER Station, M&S Food Gare de l'Est and M&S Food La Défense, M&S Food Passy (Duban), M&S Food Avenue du Général Leclerc, M&S Food Ledru Rollin, M&S Food Palais des Congrès, M&S Food Grand Rex (Poissonnière), M&S Food Saint Michel, and M&S Food Marche Saint Germain.
 
 
Since the return of Marks & Spencer to the French market in 2011, the individual stores are in deficit, the store said in a statement last year. 
 
In  2015/16 the losses amounted to 19 million pounds (€26 million).
 
However in its statement Marks & Spencer suggested that France could actually see more designated food stores opening up.
 
“We will also continue to develop our franchised Food business in France where there is demand for our quality, innovative products at convenient locations,” it said.
 
At that time, Marks & Spencer sold its property leases to French department store Galeries Lafayette however this time around the company failed to find a buyer. 
 
Parisians have long had a love affair with the brand and there was an outcry when it pulled out of France in 2001.
 
The company returned to France in 2011, ten years after closing 18 stores and firing 1,700 members of staff. 

MARKS & SPENCER

French unions line up for new fight with Marks & Spencer

French trade unions have demanded that Marks & Spencer respect the country's strict labour law after the upmarket British chain announced it would close seven stores in France - bringing back bad memories of a similar move in 2001.

French unions line up for new fight with Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer store workers protest in 2001 against the closure of 18 shops in France. Photo: AFP

British store chain Marks & Spencer is heading for another scrap with French trade unions.

Fifteen years after the upmarket British chain caused outrage in France by suddenly closing 18 stores and prompting 1,700 job losses, the company once again raised blood pressure on this side of the Channel on Tuesday by announcing its seven outlets in Paris are to bite the dust.

That means some 500 jobs are at risk. Eleven other franchise food outlets however will remain open.

Seci-Unsa, the main trade union representing workers at M&S, said the British company must respect French labour laws.

That means M&S should be actively looking for a buyer for its seven stores, says Seci-unsa.

Under a 2014 French law known as the “Loi Florange” a company looking to close down an establishment that results in job cuts has an obligation to actively look for a buyer.

“The only demand we have right now is that French law is respected,” said Yasin Leguet, the Seci-Unsa union representative for Marks & Spencer workers.

“I hope that time will be taken to actively find a credible buyer as is required in the Loi Florange,” he said.

When M&S first left France in 2001 it caused rancour among the French political class after the company was accused of ignoring European laws by failing to consult with workers before announcing the store closures.

(2001 protests against the closure of Marks & Spencer stores in France. AFP)

In fact the retailer broke the news to staff just half an hour before it made an announcement to the stock exchange.

The then Prime Minister Lionel Jospin described the act as “brutal”, “unacceptable” and “scandalous”.

Eric Scherrer from the Secu-Unsa union told The Local on Tuesday that: “Marks & Spencer France works well. The sales figures are there. A loss of €19 million across the whole company is not a lot.”

“The problem is the workers in France are at the mercy of a CEO and whatever savings plan they come up with.

“For the moment Marks & Spencer says it will respect the rules, but we don’t know what will happen.”

Scherrer said the company must provide “real” help for the 500 staff whose jobs are on the line, whether it's to find work or training as well as adequate financial compensation “above what the law requires”.

Marks & Spencer told The Local its plan to close the seven stores is still “subject to consultation with appropriate representative bodies”.

The company insists all will be done over the consultation period to try to protect jobs including the possibility of finding investors for the stores.

The possibility of the franchise partners SFH Invest and Lagardere Travel Retail France, which run the 11 stores that will remain open, taking over the other seven stores will also be investigated M & S says.

The seven stores to close in France are: M&S Aeroville, M&S Beaugrenelle, M&S Champs-Élysées, M&S So Ouest Levallois-Parret, M&S Villeneuve La Garenne, M&S Food Hausmann (La 'Chaussée D'Antin') and M&S Food Saint Lazare (La Pepiniere).

The eleven stores not affected are: M&S Food Charles De Gaulle Airport T2E, M&S Food Chatelet Les Halles RER Station, M&S Food Gare de l'Est and M&S Food La Défense, M&S Food Passy (Duban), M&S Food Avenue du Général Leclerc, M&S Food Ledru Rollin, M&S Food Palais des Congrès, M&S Food Grand Rex (Poissonnière), M&S Food Saint Michel, and M&S Food Marche Saint Germain.

 

 
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