Sportswear retailer Decathlon opens its biggest store in Romania

French sportswear retailer Decathlon opened its biggest store in Romania on Tuesday, December 29. The unit is located in Baneasa area, in northern Bucharest, near the IKEA store. The store covers some 4,000 sqm and its offer includes items for 60 different sports, according to a recent company statement. The investment was not disclosed. The French group partnered with Belgian retailer Mega Image on this project. Mega Image also opened its biggest concept store in Bucharest there. Several large retailers also have stores in this area, such as IKEA, Carrefour, Mobexpert, and Brico Depot. The Baneasa Shopping City mall is also located there. Decathlon entered the Romanian market in 2009 when it opened its first store in Bucharest’s Militari neighborhood. It now runs four stores in Bucharest and several others in big cities such as Constanta, Ploiesti, Craiova, Timisoara, Cluj, Oradea, and Iasi. Decathlon's competitors in the local market are the specialized players Intersport or Hervis, the hypermarket chains and the mono-brand sportswear stores such as Adidas or Nike. The retailer ended 2014 with a turnover of almost EUR 70 million. Decathlon opens its 15th store in Romania Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com