There's no end to store closures. After Darty, C&A and Gifi, it's nowOffice Depot 's turn to announce a new redundancy plan. Four years after a redundancy plan that led to the loss of 1,000 jobs and the closure of ten stores, the office supplies chain is preparing to close nine outlets in France, including 6 in the Paris region, due to a critical financial situation, according to Le Parisien. The insolvency plan has been submitted to the Bobigny Commercial Court on April 1, 2025.
Of the six stores threatened with closure in the Paris region, two are in Paris: one on boulevard Sébastopol (2nd arrondissement) and the other on boulevard Voltaire (11th arrondissement). In the suburbs, the Saint-Mandé store (Val-de-Marne), theArgenteuil store (Val-d'Oise) and two Essonne stores, in Mondeville and Ballainvilliers, will also be closed.
Despite a takeover by the Alkor cooperative in 2021 via the Nouvelle Victoire structure, the relaunch of the business failed to turn the company's accounts around. Today, the company has accumulated almost 29 million euros in debts, mainly with its suppliers. Faced with this financial impasse, shareholders Patrick Bidgrain, Pascal Orlando and Jacques Rouard filed for receivership in August 2024.
The Bobigny Commercial Court is due to rule on the fate of Office Depot on April 16. A continuation plan worth 7 million euros has been proposed. But the unions are concerned about the future of the 116 employees affected by this new redundancy plan. The chain, which will have 60 stores by 2021 compared with 36 today, could well see its network shrink even further if the court validates these closures.
The history ofOffice Depot in France, with its management errors, unsuccessful takeovers and repeated redundancy plans, seems far from over.
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