Sports Direct International plans to open its first four full-fledged stores in France this year, all in the Paris region. The first one is set to open shortly on 1,500 m² in the area of Herblay-Franconville, across from a Décathlon superstore. Another one, measuring 2,000 m², should take the place of a Sport 2000 store being shut down in the Evry 2 shopping center. The roll-out of the Sportsdirect.com banner in France follows a test on a smaller surface of 750 m² that began in 2009 when Franck Odier rebranded his Team 5 store in Fresnes into the British banner. Odier is now running Sports Direct's business in France. His family was involved in the start-up of the French Go Sport group and other sports retailing ventures.

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