Sport 2000 has launched a new initiative, called Running Experts Europe, to federate the operators of specialist running shops all over Europe, starting with representatives from the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. In these countries, the ANWR Group has bundled the activities of Sport 2000 through a joint company, Sport 2000 GmbH, headed up by Margit Grosau, with Jörg Seifert in charge of its running division.
The initiative was unveiled at the in-house trade show of Sport 2000 Germany, which took place from Nov. 28 to 30 in Mainhausen. A French specialist retailer, Running Conseil, participated in a hybrid online/offline meeting of running shop managers on the subject, indicating that it would like to become part of the transnational group in the near future.
Other participants included managers from Laufladen Lunge in Frankfurt, Leipziger Laufladen in Leipzig, Runners’ Lab from Belgium and Ryffel Running from Switzerland. Together, they discussed areas in which they could cooperate more closely across their national borders. Possible initial starting points would be joint trade shows, international campaigns and the establishment of an international dealers’ commission.
According to Sport 2000, Running Experts Europe is meant to bring together the best running specialists in Europe in order to create cross-national synergies and networks to support each other and learn from each other, recognizing new trends and consumer changes early on and acting accordingly.
Sport 2000 Germany has already launched a new retail format in the sector, Absolute Run, which has been picked up or is going to be picked up in other countries.
