Global sports retail giant Decathlon to expand to Victoria
International sporting brand Decathlon has announced its expansion plans for Australia, including the establishment of its first store in Victoria.
The store in Box Hill South is set to open in November 2018.
Decathlon landed in Australia last year, opening its first store in Tempe in New South Wales in December (above).
Since opening the store has sold over 60,000 items on average per month, attracting 500,000 visitors per month and selling over 600,000 items to date in total including online sales.
The brand is one of the world’s largest sporting retailers, often likened to the Ikea of sporting goods, and originates from France.
It has 1200 stores across the globe in 30 countries and 80,000 staff worldwide.
CEO of Decathlon Australia Olivier Robinet says Victoria will love Decathlon.
“We are extremely pleased to be expanding our presence across Australia,” Robinet said.
“Building on the success of our website and our first store in Tempe, Sydney, we want to maintain the momentum by opening further stores across Australia.
"The people of Australia have embraced our brand and we are excited about this.
Robinet announced they have plans to open five stores in Victoria over the next two years, while they will open their second store in New South Wales in Auburn.
“In keeping with our generous warehouse design, the stores will be over 3800 square metres in size, represent over 70 sports and carry more than 7,000 different products, with walls and aisles lined with an endless array of unique and innovative items.
“Australians are some of the most active people in the world, the whole country is like a playground," Robinet said.
Customers can test their products in the ‘active zones’ and take products home to try them for up to a week.
“We employ many local staff and our whole team is focused on assisting customers to fall in love with sport and benefit from our great products, affordable prices and wonderful service.
“In fact, our expansion across Victoria means that we will be providing jobs for hundreds of Victorians.
Each store employs up to 100 people.