The San Marina shoe brand is permanently closing the doors of all its French stores on Saturday February 18, 2023. In difficulty, the brand has no choice but to sell off its stocks before lowering the curtain.
A hard blow for the followers of the shoe brand! San Marina lives its last hours. Facing difficulties, the Marseille brand will indeed close its doors for good. Its 163 stores, scattered all over France, will raise the curtain for the very last time on Saturday February 18, 2023. If for customers it will be an opportunity to do good business, San Marina having reduced its prices to empty its stocks before the final closure, for the 600 employees of the brand who will find themselves out of work, this last day should be particularly rich in emotions.
Which San Marina stores will close?
There are no exceptions, the closure of San Marina stores concerns all French stores. However, the Marseille brand and present for 42 years on the territory has, over the years, opened more than 160 stores. The brand has 28 shops in the south-east between Nice and Montpellier, more than thirty in the capital and its surroundings, around thirty also in the Lyon region.
Why is San Marina closing its stores?
The San Marina group did not show any signs of weakness, but it was put in difficulty by a court decision which forced it to pay spring 2020 rents. At this time, during which France was confined, the shoe shops deemed “non-essential” were closed. If aid and deadlines had been granted so as not to make the brands dive, two years later the brand was forced to align sums that its cash flow could not cover.
San Marina had asked to be placed in receivership in September 2022, but the strategy was not enough. On Wednesday February 15, 2023, the Marseille-born brand announced the closure of all its stores. The judicial liquidation of the stores could follow soon.
Destocking, closure… When should San Marina stores close?
San Marina customers only have until Saturday evening February 18 to go to the shops of the shoe brand, after which the curtain will not reopen. The speed of execution of the store closures forces the brand to sell its stock quickly and at discounted prices, because who says liquidation says destocking. Since Wednesday, San Marina has been displaying all of its pairs of shoes at bargain prices to keep as little stock as possible on hand after closings. An employee of one of the brand’s Parisian boutiques assured BibaMagazine that the hundred or so San Marina stores are selling off all the products while stocks last. The discounts can go up to -60% according to this same employee.
If the last San Marina stores will definitely lower the curtain on the evening of February 18, some shops were able to close earlier, between February 15 and 18, after having sold out their entire stock of shoes. As for the fate of the brand’s online merchant site, it has not been available since February 15. Since the announcement of the store’s closure, a message signed by San Marina explains that order deliveries can no longer be honored. A text of apology which is accompanied by a last thank you to the customers: “We would like to thank you for all the love you have shown us during these 42 years spent together”.