French sportswear retailer Decathlon, owned by Mulliez French billionaires, who also control Auchan hypermarkets, will add five new stores this year, in the wake of investments ZF puts at over 35m euros, set to create 400 new jobs. This is the most ambitious expansion plan announced during a year of dwindling consumption by a sportswear retailer. Moreover, the French billionaires also have an extremely dynamic presence in real estate, basing their strategy on acquisition of plots of land, after in 2009, their first year domestically, they stuck to a single store in a rented space. "We want to open five stores this year", Fabrice Beschu, country manager with Decathlon Romania, told ZF, without specifying the value of investments or the number of employees to be recruited. Decathlon is in talks for a store in the northern area of Bucharest, after having secured a presence in western and eastern Bucharest. Besides expanding in Bucharest, the French retailer might open stores in Iasi, Constanta, Timisoara and Brasov this year.
French sportswear retailer Decathlon, owned by Mulliez French billionaires, who also control Auchan hypermarkets, will add five new stores this year, in the wake of investments ZF puts at over 35m euros, set to create 400 new jobs. This is the most ambitious expansion plan announced during a year of dwindling consumption by a sportswear retailer. Moreover, the French billionaires also have an extremely dynamic presence in real estate, basing their strategy on acquisition of plots of land, after in 2009, their first year domestically, they stuck to a single store in a rented space. "We want to open five stores this year", Fabrice Beschu, country manager with Decathlon Romania, told ZF, without specifying the value of investments or the number of employees to be recruited. Decathlon is in talks for a store in the northern area of Bucharest,