The construction of the 6,500 square meter store in a half-hour drive from the Russian capital was kicked off by Decathlon, but works were put on a halt in 2022 when the French retailer pulled out from the country.
Desport has already put into operation all former Decathlon stores that took over under the deal stroke in December 2023. The Khimky store is believed to be the last Decathlon’s unfinished project in Russia.
Desport is struggling to fill its shelves. During 2024 – the first year in operation - the company launched sales of 4300 private label items and plans to push this figure to 7000 by the end of 2025. And as SGI Europe could report the Russian market growth is slowing down.
Despite that, the company keeps lending its shopping space. For example, the first gym of the local Spirit Fitness chain has recently been launched at the territory of the Desport store in Korolev, Moscow Oblast.
Another Spirit Fitness gym is scheduled to start operation at the Desport store in Yekaterinburg in 2025.
The sporting goods retailer has previously rolled out a project to lend between 100 and 500 sq m of shopping floor in 30 of its stores in major Russian cities. The company explained it sought to better manage the available capacities and achieve synergy with its tenants, all of which will be various sport-related businesses.
As a part of this strategy, the Desport store in Togliatti, a town on the Volga River, now houses a football school, and another store in Moscow houses the travel goods store Garmin.
