Russian sporting goods retailer Sportmaster has opened a new store under the Sportmaster Pro banner in the Raduga Park shopping center in Yekaterinburg, taking over a location previously occupied by Decathlon. This is the first time that Sportmaster has taken the place of the French retailer. In early 2023, the Russian media reported that Sportmaster refused to buy the former Decathlon chain in Russia, claiming that the locations of most of the stores did not fit its needs.
Meanwhile, the Russian online newspaper Mash reported that the Decathlon chain had finally been sold to a new owner after protracted negotiations. According to the report, about 30 of the 90 stores are expected to open their doors by October 2023 under one of the new brand names currently under consideration: Desyatiboria, Dec. or DK. There is no information about the buyer. Earlier, the Russian press reported that two companies are in negotiations to buy the retail chain: Turkey’s FLO Retailing and Lebanon’s Azadea Group.
Sources close to the deal reported that the acquisition is expected to bring Decathlon’s product back to the Russian market. For now, the assortment will be slightly different from that of regular Decathlon stores, and the shortcomings are expected to be filled by products from other brands, mainly of European origin.
However, the deal has yet to be confirmed by officials. Victor Evtukhov, Russian deputy minister of industry and trade, said on June 16 that the company was still looking for buyers for its local assets. He claimed that Russian authorities did not permit the French company to sell its chain in parts and demanded a 50 percent discount from the market price in accordance with Russian law governing the withdrawal of foreign companies from the country.
For his part, Pavel Lyulin, Vice President of the Russian Union of Shopping Centers, claimed that the Decathlon team has begun negotiating the terms for reopening its stores in the country, which is scheduled to commence in the fall. He said the chain is being brought back online gradually, as some stores needed to be renovated first after a prolonged shutdown, while others were in disastrous condition.
