For Decathlon Canada, the globally-renowned sports retailer, it’s been a few months of non-stop big news announcements.
First, it opened a new City concept store, at Toronto’s Union Station, on September 1.
It also announced in August that it will be added to Marché Central in the Summer of 2023, one of Canada’s top performing power centres and Montreal’s premier value shopping destination.
And now, the giant retailer plans to open its second store in Quebec City on October 16. It will be the company’s 13th store in Canada and will be located at Laval University.
The company also has plans to open a bigger store in the Scarborough Town Centre by mid next year.
Romain Berquand, store leader in Quebec City, said the new concept store at Laval University gives it access to 55,000 students on campus and is more accessible by public transportation than its other store in the Quebec capital.
“For the minds of the people who live in Quebec City, Université Laval represents sports excellence. With the store we’re going to open, it’s going to be like a presentation of the product. And we want to offer the opportunity for people to try and learn about the products” he said.
“It’s going to be a little store. I think 4,700 square feet and we’re going to offer a lot of accessories. We want to help people practice sports in the sports installation of the university. With all that, we want to offer the possibility to everyone to test the products in place in the sports installation before having the chance to buy.
“We want to make people understand that price is not always a condition to have quality sports products. We will have a lot of items that will be on display so people can come, touch, try and learn about the products from our teammates who know everything about the products as well.”
The retailer’s first store in Quebec City opened in September 2019. That store is a destination store in the city and outside the city’s core.
“Some of the people know the brand Decathlon so we have a lot of customer visits,” said Berquand.
The Laval University store is much smaller than a typical Decathlon store. For example, the other Quebec City store in Sainte-Foy is about 50,000 square feet.
Berquand said outdoor sports is very strong in Quebec City with people having a mindset to be healthy. And people would like to have good equipment to pursue their activities. That is helping people discover many different sports.
“Quebec is a big market and a big opportunity for Decathlon. I think Decathlon is a big opportunity for people who live in Quebec. Our first store is outside of the city and it’s not really accessible because we don’t have good public transportation to go there,” he said.
“So with the opening of this store more in the centre, in the university, a very people place, I think we can meet people there and make the sports even more accessible because the price is accessible, the place where the store is is accessible by public transportation.”
Berquand said Decathlon wants to get people moving, not only those already passionate about sports, but those who are not passionate yet but they will discover the passion with accessible and quality items.
“Decathlon is a sports store, sure, but not only for people who already do sports. It’s also for people who want to discover sports or new sports,” he added.
Decathlon’s Union Station store is Canada’s first City concept store with about 3,500 square feet.
Decathlon also has four large, full-concept stores in Ontario (Vaughan, Burlington, Brampton and Ottawa).
Bjorn Bosmans, Ontario leader for Decathlon Canada, said the Union Station store “is a great way to introduce our brand to people who live, work or commute in the downtown core.”
“We want to get Torontonians moving through this central hub acting as a point of connection, a place for events, and see where this experience can take them,” said Bosmans. “Union Station provides us with the perfect access point for our new City store experience, and we look forward to meeting people and bringing the community together to stay active, uniting under the banner of sports.”
The Decathlon store to open in the Summer of 2023 at Marché Central will be 35,000 square feet and join a Walmart Canada Supercentre in the shopping venue’s sixth retail phase. For Decathlon, it will be the retailer’s fifth location in Montreal.
“We are so excited to be opening a new store in the commercial hub of Marché Central,” said Marion Nadeau, Regional Director of Quebec, Décathlon Canada. “This location will provide those in the Greater Montreal area with even greater access to our quality, affordable sports gear, and equipment. We are eager to build lasting connections within the community and hope to share our love of sports and active living with everyone who enters the store.”
