Decathlon accelerates its Spanish expansion with ten new stores

Retail

Credits: Decathlon.

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French company Decathlon has begun 2026 with a new drive to expand its retail network in Spain. The group plans to open ten new stores during the first half of the year. This marks one of the largest waves of openings by the company in the Spanish market in recent years. It follows the recent expansion of 25 stores announced in Germany.

The plan is part of an expansion strategy that combines permanent urban stores with temporary formats adapted to the seasonality of certain destinations. Through this approach, the company aims to enhance its customer proximity and tailor its distribution network to varying demand patterns.

The new points-of-sale will be distributed across Galicia; the Valencian Community; the Canary Islands; the Balearic Islands; Andalusia; Catalonia and the Community of Madrid. Most of the stores will be located in central city areas. This decision aligns with the objective of bringing the brand's offering closer to urban environments with a higher concentration of consumers. In total, the openings will add more than 5,200 square metres of retail space and will create over one hundred direct jobs.

Within this plan, seven stores will operate under the City format. This is the urban store model with which the company is focusing on smaller spaces and a more agile, specialised shopping experience. These openings are planned for Ourense; the Arena Multiespacio shopping centre in Madrid; Córdoba and three additional locations in Barcelona.

In parallel, the company will continue to develop its temporary or pop-up store model, primarily aimed at tourist destinations with seasonal demand for sports products. In this context, it will reopen its Cullera store in March and add three new points-of-sale in Mogán, Magaluf and Chiclana de la Frontera. The objective is to strengthen its presence during the peak months for tourism and sports activities.

The expansion follows a complex year for the Spanish subsidiary. According to the accounts for 2024, published at the end of July 2025, the company recorded a gross turnover of 2.09 billion euros. This is a 1.55 percent decrease from the 2.13 billion euros achieved in 2023. In terms of profitability, net profit stood at 71 million euros, representing a decrease of 42.28 percent compared to the previous year.

The decline is partly due to the extraordinary effect recorded in 2023 following a sale and leaseback transaction. Through this, the company sold several stores in its network for 171.3 million euros to then continue operating them under a lease agreement.

Regarding its operational structure, the company ended 2024 with 171 stores and five logistics centres in Spain, compared to 174 stores and seven centres recorded the previous year. The workforce also decreased slightly, from over 11,000 workers in 2023 to 10,850 employees in 2024, representing a reduction of nearly 150 positions.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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