Decathlon announces first store in Victoria

International sporting brand Decathlon has announced the launch of its first store in Victoria, Box Hill South, today confirming the store will open in late November 2018.

The brand is one of the world’s largest sporting retailers, often likened to the Ikea of sporting goods, and originates from France.

With 1200 stores across the globe in 30 countries and 80,000 staff worldwide, the sports giant said it’s focused on expansion in Australia.

“We are extremely pleased to be expanding our presence across Australia,” CEO of Decathlon Australia, Olivier Robinet said today.

“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.

“Today, I am announcing that we will be opening up to five stores in Victoria over the next two years.”

Arriving in Australia in 2017, Decathlon opened its first store in Tempe, New South Wales late last year. 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 first Victorian store will open in Box Hill South, 249 Middleborough Road, in late November 2018.

“At the same time, we will also open our second store in New South Wales, 300 Parramatta Road, Auburn,” said Robinet.

“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. Prior to our arrival, many Australians had to spend hundreds of dollars to get a quality product. Decathlon has now changed this.

“We offer high quality products at affordable prices with great service and interactive experiences in store.   Customers can try and test out our wonderful products in our ‘active zones’ and even 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.

“Sport is a key ingredient for good health, good relationships and community engagement and we are excited to be opening stores in Victoria.”