According to CMDsport, Deportes Cronos plans to open three stores in Portugal in the first half of the present year, bringing its total to six. And there are plans for more before the year is out, although how many remains unclear. The Spanish buying group is pursuing a policy that dates back at least to last year when it opened the first Portuguese store in the country’s capital in April. Meanwhile, the Deportes Cronos store in Villanueva de los Infantes, Spain, is the latest store to have undergone a makeover to match the new corporate image. At the moment, there are 245 points of sale under the Cronos banner in Spain, and thus 248 on the Iberian Peninsula. There are also four sportswear stores under the Essential banner.
On July 3-4, in Talavera de la Reina, Cronos will be holding its buyers’ convention for spring/summer 2023. The venue is yet to be determined, but the format is not. The first day will be in-person and the second virtual – thanks to a digital platform developed by Grupo G5, an informal alliance of buying groups in Spain that came to be in late 2018. G5 has become a misnomer, as the alliance now exists between only three groups: Deportes Cronos, Giro 180 and Coas Sport Trade (the other two, Quorum Sport and Tiendas Deportivas Canarias, have ceased operations). Members of Cronos’ partners will be free to attend in person, while members of Deportes Cronos will have until July 8 to strike their deals virtually.
The convention will mark the debut of Athlecia, a brand of women’s fitness apparel, and Virtus, a similar brand for men. Both are owned by Sports Group Denmark, which has amassed a portfolio of 26 brands since its founding in 2012. The previous buyers’ convention saw the debut of 4F, a budget brand from Poland.
