Fauchon: 134 years as Paris's luxury grocer — then receivership and shuttered stores

Fauchon was a Parisian institution — the green-and-white awnings at 24–30 Place de la Madeleine had symbolised French luxury food since 1886. Founded by Auguste Fauchon, the company built its reputation on exotic spices, fine teas, and impeccably presented groceries that wealthy Parisians gave as gifts. For more than a century, Fauchon was synonymous with the art of French table-setting.

By the 2000s the business was struggling. A period of expansion under CEO Laurent Adamowicz in the late 1990s had loaded the company with debt. Michel Ducros took over in 2004, selling non-core assets and trimming costs, but a series of external shocks — the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the 2018–2019 Gilets Jaunes protests, the 2019–2020 transport strikes, and finally the COVID-19 pandemic — crippled tourism and foot traffic in the Madeleine district. Fauchon never built a sufficient online channel to compensate.

In June 2020 the parent company entered receivership (redressement judiciaire). A continuation plan approved in September 2020 closed the historic Place de la Madeleine food stores and laid off 77 of 177 employees. The brand survived by pivoting to the Fauchon Hospitality hotel concept, but the century-old grocery business — the core of what Fauchon was — had been dismantled.