Decathlon Leers store has been in financial difficulties for a while, and if it were only for its economic performance, it would have been closed years ago.
Decathlon management were convinced the store was useful for its neighborhood, this was the main reason it remained open – to sustainably make sports and benefits of sports accessible to the many. Evolving social aspects in the area in 2019 made Decathlon Leers store question its economical, social and environmental utility in the local ecosystem.
Decathlon thus initiates an exercise of evaluation to define its clear purpose and its contribution to territorial challenges in Roubaix city. G’IMPACTE team is invited to conduct footprint analysis of the Leers store.
The results of this footprint analysis identified the major stake for this territory: employment. Consequently, Decathlon decides to tackle this issue through approaches of circular economy and sports practice. Decathlon faces inevitable difficulties to transform smoothly the existing store without making structural changes. Thus, the decision to close the store is being taken, nevertheless, a new chapter begins, this time including local stakeholders who consequently commit to G’IMPACTE action for addressing common Roubaix challenges.
Following the collaborative workshop in August 2020, Decathlon opened its first outlet store in the industrial Roubaix area in a container of 12 m2 for a 6 months’ trial period.
What does this outlet store do differently?
As in a usual outlet, we can find Decathlon products from previous season’s collections at an incredibly competitive price. Temporary collections change weekly and according to the season. Moreover, this project contributes to solving Roubaix territorial challenges and Decathlon plays here a role of a networker in its local community. To do this, in front of its container store Decathlon Outlet Roubaix organizes regular sports events, such as new sports discovery or practice in collaboration with local sports associations and coaches. Furthermore, links of proximity are intensified through professional training programs about various jobs in retail, in collaboration with local actors Apprentis d’Auteuil and SKOLA.
Circular economy, local professional integration and sports accessibility are the main contributions of Decathlon Roubaix Outlet today.
