The French sporting goods retailer Decathlon will open its first store in Canada in the Champlain Mall in Brossard, on 1 st April 2018.
The store will be located in the Wings of Fashion in the commercial center, property of Cominar.
The retail space will have an area of 45,000 square feet. Between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet will be used for storage, and between 10,000 and 15,000 square feet will be playgrounds, explained Sylvain Charron of Oberfeld Snowcap, a broker mandated by the channel to conclude the transaction at the Mail Champlain.
The aim of the playgrounds is to make the clients move, as well as to introduce them to the practice of new sports.
The brand stands out for its wide range of products, covering 140 sports: horse riding, hunting, fishing, outdoors, individual sports, team sports and water games.
ATTRACTIVE SELLING PRICES
Decathlon will probably offer hockey equipment in Brossard. There will be competition on the South Shore as hockey players will have a choice between Decathlon, Sportium and Canadian Tire (Canadian Tire, Hockey Experts, Sports Experts, Intersport and Sports Gilbert Rousseau) equip.
The strength of Decathlon lies in the selling price of items from its many private brands, categorized by sporting activity. “They are in the entry level in each of the categories,” says Sylvain Charron. Due to one of the lowest disposable incomes in the country, Quebeckers usually respond well to the low cost factor.
Yesterday, it was impossible to contact a spokesperson for the French company to obtain details on its strategy of setting up in Canada.
QUEBEC, COUNTRY ENTRY PORT
For its part, the owner of the Mail Champlain is obviously very happy with his new recruit.
“We can not wait until the phone rings to fill our malls,” said Guy Charron, Cominar’s Senior Vice President, Operations, Retail, who came out of his holidays to comment on the new .
“ We went to meet them in France to convince them to come and settle in one of our centers. – Guy Charron
“Leaders have chosen Quebec as a gateway to Canada and the United States,” he continues. In retail, it is not often that Quebec is the gateway, but this time it is and we are very happy. ”
1200 STORES
Decathlon operates three outlets in Mexico, but none in the United States.
Decathlon is a retail giant with nearly 1200 stores in 26 countries and a turnover of 10 billion euros (15 billion Canadian dollars). The company, which has existed since 1976, belongs to the Mulliez family, one of the richest in France. It also owns the supermarket chain Auchan, the hardware stores Leroy Merlin, stores Saint Maclou (deco) and Kiabi (fashion).
