Sports retail giant Decathlon coming to Melbourne

WANT to ride a bike around for a week before deciding if you want to buy it? Well a new store — likened to the Ikea of the sporting retail world — will let you. And it’s coming to a Melbourne suburb near you.

EVER wished you could try that new bike for a week to see if you like it? Or have a few hits of tennis with your new racquet to make sure it’s the one for you?

Well a new Melbourne sports store will let you do just that.

They been called the Ikea of the sporting retail world and French company Decathlon is coming to a suburb near you.

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Decathlon will take over old Masters sites and they are set to change the way people shop for their sporting goods.

Warehouse style stores over 3800 square metres in size, will open in Knoxfield and Box Hill in November.

There are “active zones” where you can try before you buy and if that’s not long enough you can taken them home for a week.

Decathlon CEO Olivier Robinet.

CEO Olivier Robinet said Decathlon will offer high quality sporting goods at a cost-effective price.

The brands may not be familiar to Australians, but they are to millions of people across the world.

Mr Robinet said the membership based company offers one brand for each of the 70 sports in store.

“Customers can try and test out our wonderful products in our “active zones” and even take products home to try them for up to a week,” he said.

People will be able to try before they buy at Decathlon stores.

The front of Decathlon stores will feature an area where community sporting clubs can showcase their sports and have sign-up days.

And just like the Masters stores before it Decathlon will adopt the BBQ tradition, with local sporting groups being offered the chance to sell a snag outside stores.

“At Decathlon, we are great innovators. We have research and development facilities all over France to develop the latest innovative designs, registering up to 40 patents per year,” Mr Robinet said.

“Our Australian customers are now able to experience all the amazing innovative new products that we have designed and they are very affordable.”

Decathlon already has one Australian store in Auburn, Sydney.

CEO of French sporting goods store Decathlon Olivier Robinet.

It began in near Lille in France in July 1976 and now has more than 1200 stores in 30 countries.

Mr Robinet said he hoped for products to be produced in Australia by the end of the year.

Decathlon are also on the lookout for staff and will recruit between 60-100 Melburnians.

They will begin by training people for management positions and then other staff.

Decathlon want active local sports people who are flexible and willing to learn new skills.

They are also looking for people with skills in web development, social media and email marketing.

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