The Tréndico buying group – which has come in seventh among Spain’s largest sports retailers in our recent ranking – has completed a two-year initiative and fully absorbed Grupo Rico, a smaller operation headquartered in the town of Parla, outside Madrid. Ricosport, which enjoys a strong position in the Madrid area, was formerly the second-largest partner there in a bigger rival group, Detail Sport, which was subsequently renamed as Base.
Rico is run by a trio of siblings – Sandra, Héctor and Andy Rico, aged 45, 49 and 52 respectively – who have taken over from their parents, Andrés (75) and Alfonsi (73), who founded the group 33 years ago. It operates 11 stores, all located in shopping malls or on thoroughfares in the Spanish cities of Getafe, Fuenlabrada, Leganés, Madrid, Parla, Pinto, Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, Vallecas and Villaverde. They range in size from 180 to 300 square meters each. All of them have spent the past year converting to Trendico’s Atleet banner. The siblings are now looking to open two more Atleet stores and a further two around Madrid under a different sneaker retail banner, Foot on Mars, also managed by Trendico.
“It’s been a lot of work for many people,” says Andy Rico, “as we’ve not only changed brands but had to draw up plans and change floors, ceilings, lighting, furtniture… We’ve had to definitively adopt a new concept, one that we nevertheless have to admit we love and have set our fortunes on. We think it’s in line with what’s to come and connects very well with consumers.”
As Héctor Rico notes, Grupo Rico has in addition had to integrate its administration, financials, IT, logistics and sales department into Tréndico, “with which we are are already working in a state of total and absolute normalcy, whether with suppliers or in our stores, online or offline, selling through the group’s platforms or exchanging data.” Tréndico itself believes that Grupo Rico’s logistical expertise will serve it well in central Spain.
Tréndico Group, which was previously called Twinner, is headquartered in Ejea de los Caballeros, in the province of Zaragoza. It boasts 461 affiliated points of sale, of which 128 are Atleet and 78 Foot on Mars. The rest will be converting to one of the two banners over the course of next year. It is expecting to have generated about €50 million in revenues for 2021, with a sell-out somewhat above €150 million.
