André Afentoulidis is going to replace Alfred Landolt as general manager of Athleticum, the large Swiss sporting goods retail chain owned by Manor Group. Afentoulidis is currently sales director of Jumbo, a Swiss chain of hardware stores. Landolt, who established Athleticum from scratch in 1995, has been promoted as general merchandising manager for Manor’s home decoration, office supplies and household items.
With a new store opened in Lausanne last May, based on a new more fashion-oriented concept, Athleticum now has a total of 20 superstores in Switzerland, each with more than 2,000 square meters of space. It generated sales of €112 million after VAT last year and continued to grow in the first half of 2007 at a rate of 6 percent. A 6 percent drop in the Winter months, due to extremely warm weather, was more than offset by a big boost in the Spring and Summer season.
