RBC: Decathlon is going to sell its business in Russia

RBC wrote about this, referring to its sources in large retail chains and consulting companies. Three interlocutors believe that Decathlon intends to sell the entire business as a whole, and one believes that the retailer will separately sell its property.

At the beginning of last year, 57 French retailer stores were operating in the country, now there are 28 of them left. It was reported that the outlets were temporarily closed, "sales suspended indefinitely." Decathlon representatives did not comment on the information about the sale of the business in Russia.

At the CORE consulting company.XP noted that Decathlon in Russia belongs to at least 135 thousand square meters. m of commercial real estate. These are free—standing hypermarkets - 20 "box" buildings with a total area of 91 thousand square meters, the area of each is from 3 thousand to 10 thousand square meters. The company owns office and warehouse premises and land plots next to hypermarkets. Decathlon has two main legal entities in the country — Oktoblu and Blue House. Through Oktobla, he conducts sales, the company has lease agreements for stores in the shopping center that do not belong to the company. The real estate owned by the company is registered at the Blue House, the retailer rents out part of the space.

Some experts believe that the French company will not be able to sell the Russian business, since the network did not always occupy successful and specific areas. Visitors came to the stores often only because of the brands.

Last year, the Decathlon network announced the beginning of the sale of more than 20 thousand of its products on the Ozon marketplace. Before that, in March, the chain's stores were closed. The network has been operating in Russia since 2006. There are 2.5 thousand employees in the company t r udilis. By the time of closure, the chain had 62 stores across the country.

Currently, the official Russian Decathlon website is not working.