Decathlon opened a flagship location in Dublin, marking its first location in the Republic of Ireland. Over the next few years, the French sports retailer expects to open nine outlets in Ireland. It already has stores in Northern Ireland.
The opening took place on Saturday, June 13. The French retail giant was due to open the store in March, but the grand opening was postponed due to COVID-19.
“We are very excited and proud to be able to offer this huge, innovative and so unique a concept store to Irish sports enthusiasts,” said Bastien Grandgeorge, chief executive of Decathlon in Ireland, adding that he is urging people not to rush to the store for its first day for safety reasons, “and because we will be open forever in Dublin from next Saturday”.
The Ballymun store will be a “sports hub” with more than 43,000 square feet of retail space, a large external sports area, including a playground, fitness machines, a football pitch, rollerblading area, bike circuit and space for the store to partner with other sports providers to offer classes in yoga or Zumba.
Decathlon has more than 1,500 stores across more than 40 countries and revenues in excess of €12.4 billion. Ireland was one of the few European countries where it did not have a brick & mortar presence.
Photo courtesy Decathlon
