The Greenstone Guide August 2017 | Page 8

8 | Greenstone shopping august 2017
We believe that every child is a flower waiting to blossom, and we will ensure their seeds of greatness are realised. number of badminton nets and racquets were sold – not a huge sport in South Africa – purely because there was a net set up where people could try their hand at the sport. It really is a hands-on environment where physical activity is promoted.

8 | Greenstone shopping august 2017

Decathlon, the French sport retail brand, is putting down roots in South Africa in the form of a megastore in Alberton. On July 1, however, they opened a pop-up store in the Greenstone Shopping Centre, and it has already become very popular with locals by offering products at the lowest possible price at the highest possible quality.

Calling all sports fanatics

about decathlon

At Decathlon, all the staff live for a common purpose on a daily basis:“ to make the pleasure and benefits of sport accessible to all”. In every country where they are present, they share a strong and unique company culture, reinforced by our two values: Vitality and Responsibility.
At Decathlon, they place innovation at the heart of their activities: from research to retail, including design, production and logistics. Their 20 + Passion Brand teams channel all their energy into developing technical, good-looking and simple products, always at the lowest possible prices.
Decathlon is one of the world’ s largest sporting goods retailers. Decathlon started with a store in Lille, France in 1976, founded by Michel Leclercq. It started to expand abroad a decade later, to Germany in 1986, Spain in 1992, Italy in 1998, Portugal, the United Kingdom in 1999, China in 2003, India in 2009, Malaysia in 2016 and Southeast Asia in 2012. Today, there are more than 1100 stores in 38 countries. The company employs more than 78,000 staff from 80 different nationalities.

D ecathlon stocks a wide range of sporting goods, from tennis rackets to advanced scuba diving equipment. The Decathlon Group also owns over 20 brands, with research and development facilities to develop the latest innovative designs, coming up with new innovations every year. Each brand represents a different sport or group of sports, with a dedicated product development and design team.

With more than 1 000 stores across more than 30 countries,
Decathlon is considered to be amongst the biggest sport retailers in the world – if not the biggest. Founded in Lille, France, more than 40 years ago, Decathlon stores across the world follow the same formula: huge trading spaces filled with products representing more than 50 sports and outdoor codes, sold at low prices. Their popular Kalenji Run One running shoe, for example, sells for just R199.
Decathlon started testing the South African waters last year when they opened a small 500m 2 pop-up store in Soweto in June, only stocking their own brands, which they call Passion Brands.“ We closed the Soweto pop-up store in order to move to our new pop-up store in Greenstone,” says Decathlon SA Communications Leader Japie Kruger.“ The main purpose of this was to move into a bigger space where we can offer a wider range of our products.”
And while the term‘ pop-up’ seems to indicate a temporary home, Japie confirms that the Greenstone store is in fact a permanent shop; it is only termed as such due to the fact that the store, at around 1 300m 2, is around half the size of their usual stores.“ Ten months after launching in Soweto, the opportunity to move to the Greenstone Shopping Centre came about and we jumped at it. It was an area that we were looking at, and although we tend to build our own stores, it was an opportunity inside a well-established shopping centre that we couldn’ t refuse.”
Once the decision was made, they had just six weeks to get the store up to speed in the large space that used to belong to House & Home. Inside the store, with its fresh, signature light grey floors and dark grey walls, customers are treated to a range of sporting products unheard of under one roof in South Africa. You name it, they have it, and unlike other similar stores, the wide aisles and‘ playgrounds’ allow users to test out some of the equipment before they buy it. If your child wants a skateboard or a scooter, they can test it out in the dedicated‘ riding’ area. Fancy buying a table tennis table? Then have a quick game, or play a bit of soccer and basketball and get a better feel for the equipment. Japie notes that during the store’ s opening weekend, a

Educational Play Group www. jungletots. co. za www. facebook. com / JungleTotsGreenstoneHill

Angie- 084 922 2242 angiecg @ jungletots. co. za
7am- 12 / 3 / 5pm 15 Months- 5 Years
We believe that every child is a flower waiting to blossom, and we will ensure their seeds of greatness are realised. number of badminton nets and racquets were sold – not a huge sport in South Africa – purely because there was a net set up where people could try their hand at the sport. It really is a hands-on environment where physical activity is promoted.
Internationally, they stock products from a vast number of wellknown international brands, in addition to their own Passion Brands covering most sporting codes. In South Africa they will be stocking their own passion brands exclusively, says Japie.
Since 1990 they have been investing in R & D and research projects conducted by