Minelli — a Marseille shoe brand that lasted 53 years, then lost to fast fashion

Minelli was founded in 1973 in Marseille and grew to become one of France's best-known shoe and leather goods chains, operating 21 boutiques nationwide. For decades it was part of the Vivarte group, a sprawling French retail conglomerate that owned dozens of shoe and fashion brands through the 2000s. At its peak under Vivarte, Minelli employed around 600 people.

The Vivarte group's disintegration in the late 2010s put Minelli in play. It was acquired in 2021 by San Marina, another shoe retailer that itself entered liquidation in early 2023. A consortium of investors — Mes Demoiselles Paris, DS Invest, and Union Brothers — rescued Minelli later that year, rebranding it as Maison Minelli and slashing its workforce from 600 to under 200. The brand entered its first redressement judiciaire in 2023.

By March 2026 Minelli was back in redressement judiciaire for the second time in three years. Losses had reached €3.7 million on the 2024-2025 financial year. A buyer search attracted only partial offers — Maje, Father and Sons, Jimmy Fairly each bid for one or two stores, and a logistics group offered to buy the brand and stock for €300,000 without taking on the 77 store employees. No global offer materialised. All 21 stores closed permanently on 30 May 2026 and 86 employees were made redundant.