The iconic Tati store on Boulevard Barbès in Paris will soon be closed, its business having been strongly affected by the Covid-19 crisis, announced Tuesday the GPG group, which had taken over the brand in 2017. "Tati has not seen the return of its customers to its historic center of Barbès ", whose store was" doubly "affected by the strikes last December and the health crisis, explains its deputy general manager Thierry Boukhari, quoted in a press release.
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A brand already in difficulty
The store, whose pink gingham has enlivened this popular district of Paris since 1948, "showed a 60% drop in sales between October 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020 compared to the same period the previous year", specifies The brand is therefore forced "to consider the permanent closure of the Barbès store with the support of the 34 employees concerned as part of a job protection plan (PSE)", adds the group in its press release. The two stores Tati Mariage and Tati destocking in Barbès (11 employees) would be maintained.
Owned by the Eram group since 2004 after having been founded in 1948 by Jules Ouaki, the distressed pink gingham brand was put up for sale in March 2017 and then placed in receivership. The GPG group was then chosen to take over the 109 stores and 1,428 employees, with the promise to maintain the Tati brand. "Despite 150 million euros invested, twice what was planned in the initial plan, Tati did not see sufficient return from its customers", underlines the group in its press release.
A recovery plan by Gifi
In September 2019, the GPG group had organized the takeover of 50 Tati stores and their teams by the Gifi brand, and facilitated the takeover of 29 other stores by former managers of the group through the KLO destocking brand. "This The store takeover plan has made it possible to maintain the employment of more than 1,000 employees, directly or indirectly, for the GPG group's brands, or for the KLO brand managed by former group managers, "according to the group.
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Philippe Ginestet, president of the GPG group (owner of Gifi, Tati, Besson and Trafic), announced that the historic site of boulevard Barbès in Paris in 2020 will remain the only Tati in France in 2020, the other stores in France sign to pass under the Gifi flag. This transfer took longer than expected and there were still around twenty stores under the Tati flag at the end of June.
The GPG group announced on Tuesday that 18 Tati stores would soon be sold to KLO, which would take over all of the teams assigned to these points of sale, i.e. around one hundred employees. Finally, for the last five Tati stores still in operation, one would be taken up with its four employees by the brand "Chauss 34" and the other four stores, including that of Barbès, should therefore close. The destocking sector is showing insolent growth for several years, with a multiplication of brands: Centrakor, Gifi, Stokomani, Action, Normal, etc.