In a company first, Decathlon opens Paris City store in branch of electronics chain Boulanger

Decathlon has opened a new city-centre store in Paris. On August 27, the French sport retailer has opened a new store with the Decathlon City format in the French capital. The 700-square-metre store, focusing on urban sporting activities, is located – a first for Decathlon – inside a branch of consumer electronics chain Boulanger on rue de Rennes, in the Montparnasse district. This new hybrid format enables both retailers to share costs and offer sporting goods, electronics and multimedia products under one roof.

The new store is Decathlon’s ninth in Paris, and the third with the City format, after those in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Batignolles. The store is set to target locals, people in the area on business and tourists, and its assortment is chiefly focused on three urban sporting activities: soft mobility (mostly cycling), fitness training and running. “Some seasonal sports, like hiking and water sports, are also featured, as well as a selection of basic accessories and equipment useful for other sporting practices,” said Decathlon.

To promote footfall and offer additional services, Decathlon has included in the store a repairs and maintenance workshop, catering among other to bikes and scooters, a gait analysis service (by appointment), lockers for picking up online orders, and is giving customers the opportunity to test products before buying. The new store has 20 employees.

Decathlon is currently operating 11 City stores across France, having launched the format in 2018. “By opening this new store, the fourth since the start of the year in France, we have reached a new milestone, making sport accessible to all Parisians, everywhere and for everyone. Our goal is simple: to be located less than 20 minutes away from where people live, work and travel. This is our plan for metropolitan areas, a plan we are keen to deploy more extensively in Paris,” said Bastien Grandgeorge, managing director France of the chain owned by the Mulliez family.

As part of its metropolitan strategy, Decathlon has tested other solutions, for example a format exclusively dedicated to running. A Decathlon Running store opened in central Bordeaux in May, selling Decathlon’s own products as well as those by many other third-party brands.

After presenting a new store design in early 2024, including a revamped logo, this year Decathlon has made major changes to its top hierarchy, appointing Julien Leclercq as president and Javier Lopez as CEO.

In fiscal 2024, Decathlon’s revenue in France was on par with 2023 at €4.73 billion, despite the concomitance of the Paris Olympics. Global sales instead grew by 5.2% over 2023, to €16.2 billion.