Decathlon Sports will close 14 of its 18 former MVP Sports in New England by the end of the year. The French parent company, which reported €2.8 billion ($2.7 bn) in worldwide sales in 2002, is expected to keep only the Burlington, Bellingham, Norwood and Hanover stores that were converted to the Decathlon nameplate of the last few years.

Sports Executive Weekly has learned that buyers and some management at the corporate offices heard about the move in a Boston Globe report.

The stores that are closing “failed to meet or beat company targets”, according to a company spokesman.
But some in the New England sporting goods industry said reality is more likely that Decathlon failed to meet the expectations of MVP’s core consumer in the market.

“The MVP customer was a blue collar sporting goods customer” said one sales rep. “The MVP customer is the last person that would understand the French company’s merchandising philosophy and branding”.

“They were putting Euro private label product right next to Nike and charging more for it”, said another industry professional.

Decathlon plays up there use of “Passion Brands”, that actually higher-end private label products. Based on information from the parent company, Decathlon looks to private label to account for 52% of sales.

As a comparison, The Sports Authority and Dick’s Sporting Goods, both strong competitors with Decathlon in New England, are pushing to get to 15% private label in their business model. Pacific Sunwear has the highest percentage of PL to total sales at 35%.

The closures signal real trouble for the latest European retailer to attempt a move into the U.S. market. Non-U.S. retailers and vendors that attempt to “save Americans” from our boorish buying habits do so at their own peril. This reminds us a bit of the failed bid French retailer Go Sport made in Los Angeles in the late 80’s with their big-box format that was long on style, but short on substance.


>>> American consumers can cut through hype and the concept of “form over function” faster than you can say “Oui”, or in this case, “Non”.

>>> When will they learn???