Decathlon expands in North America

Driven by steady growth and plans to grow internationally, Decathlon is set to open in North America or rather reopen. The sporting goods retailer was previously active in the United States between 1999 and 2006 with a handful of stores located near Boston. Next stop? San Francisco, on the West Coast this time, and Montreal, Canada.

Decathlon is returning to the United States and targeting the West Coast with its first address in San Francisco, California, where the brand has also set up offices to pilot its US expansion. The store, which is expected to open by the end of the year, will be located on Market Street, one of the city's main streets. It will also be available online in California, the company said on its official American Facebook page.

In Canada, the company announced the opening of a store in the Champlain shopping center in Brossard, located in the outskirts of Montreal. The store is expected to open in the spring of 2018, the company said on its website. Former industrial director of Decathlon, Nicolas Roucou, has been overseeing the launch since the summer of 2016.

According to the daily newspaper, La Presse, Sylvain Charron, who negotiated the San Francisco deal, said that the store will offer 4,200 square meters of retail space, with 1,000 square meters devoted to sports so that clients can discover new activities. In a local market with a strong focus on outdoor sports (mountain sports, cycling, hiking, fishing, canoeing...) and hockey, Decathlon aims to promote its own brands at affordable prices and highlight its status as a designer, manufacturer and seller.

The French sports retailer has set its sites on all of the Americas both north and south. In 2016, it opened a store in in the suburbs of Mexico City and set up production in Mexico. Already present in Brazil with about twenty points of sale, the brand founded in 1976 and owned by the Mulliez family, also debuted in Colombia last February, with a first store in Bogota.

The company, which achieved a turnover of 10 billion euros in 2016 (+ 12%), of which 67% was generated internationally (65% in 2015 and 60.5% in 2014), also last year made its market entry in the Ivory Coast, Slovenia, Singapore and Malaysia. The expansion constitutes a real growth opportunity for the company who saw sales jump 13.5% internationally last year, compared to a rise of 2.2% for its French business.

Decathlon expands in North America

See also