Decathlon opened its largest store in Paris last week, with a selling surface of 4,600 square meters in the northeast of the French capital. Decathlon says the new store in the 19th arrondissement covers 65 sports, it sells all of its private labels and offers services such as “click and collect” and a bicycle workshop.
Sport-Guide notes that the leading French retailer already has four stores in Paris, with a joint surface of 12,200 square meters, and another eight stores outside the city, in the Ile de France region. Another French sports retailer, Go Sport, reopened its store in the Forum des Halles in central Paris, enlarging its selling surface in Paros and next to the French capital to 16,000 square meters, including two stores just outside the inner city.
The equivalent surface for Decathlon would amount to 23,300 square meters, including the new store and another outlet of 6,500 square meters in Montreuil, just outside the inner city. Decathlon also resorted to an unusual method to recruit the 62 employees for the new store, as candidates were given 19 seconds to introduce themselves online. About 90 percent of them reside within 15 minutes of the store. Decathlon’s French sales increased by 2.3 percent last year and made up about 35 percent of its turnover of €9.1 billion last year.
Do you know which company the biggest retailer in sports is? Click here to find out
