DECATHLON OPENS INTERACTIVE SPORTING GOODS MEGA STORE
The 65,000-square-foot hub for sports gear in Vaughan features teaching and testing areas including a patch of acrylic ice for trying out skates
Whatever sport floats your boat, from archery to Zumba, and even sailing, as of Aug. 28, you’ll have a new venue for trying and buying sporting equipment. That’s when France-based retailer Decathlon opens the doors to its latest 65,000-square-foot mega-store in Vaughan. “We’re a go-to sports hub to help people get and stay active,” says Jaylone Lee, Chief Marketing Officer at Decathlon Canada.
Decathlon’s highly interactive stores offer clothing and equipment for over 65 different sports, with testing areas such as putting greens, climbing walls, basketball courts and even a patch of acrylic ice for trying out the skates.
Visitors can also sign up for classes in yoga, dance, strength training and spinning, among others, at the gymnasium-sized in-store teaching and learning area. Or they can take part in workshops on bike maintenance, skate sharpening and ski waxing, among others. “We really want this to be a fun and immersive experience,” says Lee.
Since its launch in 1976, Decathlon has grown to be the world’s largest sporting goods retailer with more than 1,600 stores in 57 countries as well as a strong online presence. The company’s first Canadian store launched in Quebec in April 2018. The Vaughan store marks the ninth store to open in the past three years and joins the other locations currently serving the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas, including a store in Burlington and a pop-up store in Brampton.
Since the beginning, says Lee, Decathlon has focused on meeting the needs of everyone from beginners to professional athletes in a wide range of sports by offering an unparalleled array of high-quality products at cut-rate prices.
The company achieves that goal by designing, manufacturing and extensively testing fully 95 per cent of its own products. Its state-of-the-art research and development centre churns out approximately 2,800 new prototypes yearly. “We’re constantly innovating to make prices accessible,” says Lee. She offers the example of a day hiking backpack that started out at a price point of $20. “By incorporating an innovative folding technique for the fabric, we were able to cut the number of stitches used to manufacture that backpack from 21 to 8,” says Lee. The result: the backpack costs just $5 today.
Also notable is Decathlon’s strong eco-focus. The company’s widereaching efforts include using recycled or sustainable materials in products, as well as setting measurable goals to reduce CO2 emissions — it aims to cut energy and air conditioning consumption by 75 per cent, for example, and reduce CO2 emissions by 40 per cent per product sold. As Lee points out, “we only have one playground,” and that’s reason enough to try to preserve the planet we play on.
“Ultimately, our goal is to make the pleasure and benefits of sports accessible to as many people as possible,” says Lee. “We think Canada is the ideal audience for our products because there are so many sports lovers.” What’s more, Lee says, although the pandemic has turned the world upside down, it has also given people a little more time to focus on making their lives better.
“People were saying, ‘I’m stuck at home, I’m going to take an online yoga class or start biking’,” Lee explains. “I think for many people the pandemic fuelled a change toward a healthier lifestyle. That’s good for us, as a sporting goods retailer, but it’s also good for people generally, because I think once you’ve adopted a healthier lifestyle, you’re far less likely to go back to bad habits.”