2023-12-19 18:19:00
Habitat, the brand specializing in furniture on Avenue Raymond Dugrand placed in receivership at the beginning of December, will request its liquidation this Wednesday followingnoon from the Bobigny court. 30 stores are affected throughout France. In Montpellier, the store is closed at least until December 23, with little hope of reopening.
On December 7, the Bobigny Commercial Court opened a judicial recovery procedure with regard to “Habitat France”, owned by the investor Thierry Le Guénic since 2020.
Salaries paid by AGS
The latter, owner of the brand which is known for its takeovers of companies in difficulty, will have to call on the AGS, salary guarantee scheme, to pay those for November. “That’s already it!” breathes Ratiba Hamache, central union representative of Habitat.
It is therefore the second episode in a dark series which continues with the request for judicial liquidation on December 18, from the administrators. It will be examined at a court hearing on December 20.
But this Monday, the Habitat store on Avenue Raymond Dugrand had already lowered the curtain, “like 25 others in France”. On the front door, a barely clear sign saying “exceptional closure” does not bode well in this key Christmas period, when sales represent the majority of the annual figure.
A right of withdrawal for attacked employees
On the website, the closure period runs until December 23. This is in fact a right of withdrawal exercised by the staff of 26 stores, including Montpellier, following multiple attacks generated by orders that cannot be honored by customers. “A colleague was beaten!”
For the unionist, “it is better that he does not reopen! He is incompetent. It is better to liquidate the stock to pay the employees and compensate the customers. No one wants to work for him anymore. Besides, he is fleeing everyone”. And the situation is dramatic, “he no longer pays suppliers, rents, the web, orders were no longer even delivered and the customer debt is estimated at €9 million”.
In November, eight stores were threatened with closure by the current manager, “the most profitable, to better resell them”, according to her. And Montpellier would have been located in the next wave.
The agony of a mid-range furniture giant
Fatima Hamache specifies: “The brand has been denounced. We can no longer operate under the Habitat name anyway.” Of which act.
The fate of Habitat and its 550 employees, including around ten present in Montpellier, should be sealed this Wednesday, and by noon on January 8, the date until which possible buyers can come forward. “We expect a lot from this audience, provided that we are taken over, even if we know that not all the stores will be, but it is a window of hope.” The debt would be estimated “at around €40 million, not counting salaries”.
In the window, the Christmas decor, now plunged into darkness, was nevertheless set. “Is it closed?” asks a resident of La Mantilla. “I liked going there to treat myself to little things. For large furniture, for me it’s more Ikea. It’s true that there was never a crowd,” admits the customer who loved hanging out in the aisles. This is also an argument from management, for whom the declines in attendance and purchasing power have had a deleterious impact on profitability.
This is the place “to be!”
Cathy Clerch, who a few streets away, runs the Perene agency, specialist in interior design, is worried regarding the future of the neighborhood: “For decoration, furnishing, this is the place where we need to be. Or rather, where we needed to be. If all the stakeholders close, what will there be in their place? More restoration? The spirit should remain.”
In the meantime, it is above all the Christmas spirit which has deserted the sector.
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