French take control of Buro Market

French distributor of office and school supplies Bureau Vallée has acquired its Belgian counterpart Buro Market, as a new step in the company’s international expansion.

Double coverage

The French have bought Buro Market’s six stores for an unspecified amount. Bureau Vallée was already active in French-speaking Belgium with five of its own shops and a store named Papel’Art, and so they are now doubling their coverage in Belgium. In five stores, the two banners will co-exist: although the name Bureau Vallée will be used everywhere, customers will still find a corner named of Buro Market to design their professional spaces.

The latter is mainly active in the B2B market, as a supplier to companies such as copycenters and printing companies, and it is precisely this focus that makes it an interesting addition for Bureau Vallée. “We will also be able to use Buro Market’s office design expertise and deploy it in our network of 330 stores in France and abroad,” CEO Bruno Peyroles told French website LSA.

First renewed store in Brussels

The first store to be adapted to the Bureau Vallée concept opens in April in Brussels, with a range of 5000 references and various services, such as the repurchase of empty ink cartridges and the sale of second-hand products.

Buro Market was founded in 1980 and has six points of sale that mainly serve as showrooms. The company has an annual turnover of approximately 6.5 million euros. New owner Bureau Vallée has 330 stores, 270 of which are in France. The chain has been on an international expansion for several years, with activities in Cameroon, Italy, Malta, Spain and Tunisia, among others. In the long term, Bureau Vallée aims to achieve a turnover of at least 450 million euros in Europe.