JouéFavorite club to take over La Grande Récré

This Monday, the Paris Commercial Court will work on the files for the recovery of The Great Recreation, placed in liquidation at the end of April. One more company – after Camaïeu, Go Sport, Gap France – that its owner, Michel Ohayon, led to its downfall.

Initially, three players had positioned themselves on the toy brand which employs 1,000 people in 140 stores: two chains in the same sector (JouéClub and Kingtoy) and a network of shoe stores (Chaussea). Finally, they should be only two to present an offer: JouéClub and Chaussea. Last Wednesday, King Toy, which planned to take over 45 stores and 529 employees, threw in the towel.

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Preservation of 1000 jobs

La Grande Récréis a struggling network since its first receivership in 2018, which impacted stores and point-of-sale investments. Significant action is needed to redress all of this“, Estimated the CEO of King Toy, Philippe Gueydon, who spoke of an investment of 200,000 euros per store to raise the bar. Kingtoy did not want to embark on the adventure when it took over 95 Maxi Toys toy stores in France in 2022.

In fact, JouéClub is the favorite. “We are the only ones to offer a global recovery offer“says its president, Jacques Baudoz. The brand, which has 290 points of sale, wishes to take over 90% of La Grande Récré’s own network, its fifty franchise stores and its corners in other brands (Casino, Total, etc.) while keeping the brand.

His offer would in total preserve “over 1,000 direct or indirect jobs“says the chain. For its part, Chaussea, which has 500 stores in Europe, including 250 in France, indicates that it has “placed an offer on a number of stores” for the “transform into Chaussea“. The court will appoint the buyer at a later date.