Present with more than 1800 shops in over 55 countries worldwide, including more than 300 in France, Decathlon in association with ENL, is finally opening its doors in Mauritius on a total area of 2,500 m2. The leading French retailer already offers more than 4,000 items and 6,000 references in the future.
Positioning itself as the largest sports shop in Mauritius, Decathlon Mauritius, located in the Bagatelle premises, will finally welcome sports enthusiasts on 13 May 2021. With sports equipment for all ages, the shop covers a total area of 3000 m2. The ENL Group, a franchisee of the prestigious French brand, has invested 100 million rupees (about 2 million euros) in the project.
The sports shop was not the initial project. “At the time, our problem was to think about the best location to set up a logistics hub to distribute our products throughout the southern hemisphere of Africa, all the islands of the Indian Ocean and the Middle East. Following a study of ten ports in the region, we finally chose Mauritius to set up a logistics hub. And as the products were already passing through this logistics hub, the whole of the Mauritian population had to benefit from it. So that’s how the retail project in Mauritius came about”, says Valéry Guers, Franchise Leader for Africa and the Indian Ocean for the Decathlon brand.
Mauritius acts as a logistics hub as Decathlon products are dispatched to 7 countries, including Reunion. The storage of these products is located in the Jin Fei business park (north of Port Louis) on at least 24,000 m2. Eventually, ten countries will be distributed from this hub.
A mission: to make sport accessible to all
Although the country is still facing the covid-19 epidemic and health restrictions are still in place, for Valéry Guers, this is an excellent opportunity for people to start practising sport. “On our social networks, our sports leaders are speaking out to give tips and motivate people to stay mobile,” he says. According to Theo Rebeyrotte, Leader Retail Decathlon Mauritius, the main objective of Decathlon Mauritius is to reach at least 80% of Mauritians to take up sports. To achieve this, the shop has recruited a team of about 40 people who are passionate about sports, who will be at the service of customers and guide them in their purchases.
Accessories for more than 60 sports are represented in the shop. For example, the golf equipment sold at Decathlon is 60% cheaper than elsewhere because the mission, said Theo Rebeyrotte, is to make sport accessible to all.
“In Decathlon’s values and those of ENL, we have a powerful word associated with it, which is ‘responsible’. So we are committed to making our products accessible to everyone,” said Valéry Guers.
By Loveena Harooa
