The Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville or Le BHV is a French department store chain with its flagship location at 52 Rue de Rivoli in the 4th arrondissement of Paris (France) and faces the Hôtel de Ville where it gets its name, the flagship is served by the Hôtel de Ville Metro station.
The chain is owned by Groupe SGM. The chain operates two full line stores and four specialised stores alongside the main stores.
History
Xavier Ruel and his wife moved to Paris in 1852 and Ruel started selling small items from carts around Paris and with the area around the Hôtel de Ville (Paris City Hall) being the area that earned the most he decided to open a store in the area and rented out the ground floor of a building on Rue de Rivoli and opened “Bazar Parisien”.
According to legend in 1855, Ruel saved the life of Empress Eugénie (wife of Napoleon III), her horses had become frightened after passing outside the store and Xavier ran out and calmed down the horses to reward him in saving her life she gave him a sum of money which allowed him to expand the store and in 1856 it was renamed to Bazar Napoléon. In 1866 Xavier rented out 3 floors of 54 Rue de Rivoli after a boost in trading.
By 1870, Bazar Napoléon occupied all of the stores building on Rue de Rivoli. After the fall of the Second French Empire the store was renamed to “Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville” referencing Hôtel de Ville across the street.
In 1900 at 78 years old founder Xavier Ruel died, at the time the business employed 800 people and recorded a capital of 12 million francs.
The store underwent several renovations between 1903 and 1904 and again in 1912-1913 this redesign was done by architect Auguste Roy.
In 1963, the first branch of the store opened and overtime several BHV stores opened across France but all except the one at Parly 2 are now closed.
In 1963, the company opens its first branch store. Over time, several other BHV department stores are opened in Paris region but most of them are closed nowadays. The store also became a member of the International Association of Department Stores but left in 1993.
A store opened at the Rosny 2 mall in Rosny-sous-Bois in 1973. In 2006 2 of the 3 floors were taken over by Galeries Lafayette and the store reopened as BHV Déco. Two floors became part of the mall’s Galeries Lafayette in 2006 and on 17 July 2010 the store was permanently closed.
It was announced in February 2023 that Groupe Galeries Lafayette had entered negotiations to sell the BHV to Société des Grands Magasins (now Groupe SGM) which operate a number of malls in France and seven Galeries Lafayette stores.
In November 2023 it was announced that the sale to Groupe SGM had been finalised and Groupe SGM now owned the BHV.
Address: 52 Rue de Rivoli, 75004 Paris, France
Working hours:
Tuesday 10 AM–8 PM
Wednesday 10 AM–8 PM
Thursday 10 AM–8 PM
Friday 10 AM–8:30 PM
Saturday 10 AM–8:30 PM
Sunday 11 AM–7 PM
Monday 10 AM–8 PM
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