Decathlon plans a marathon growth sprint to 2010

The company, which currently owns four outlets, plans to own 44 stores by 2010. "We will open four new shops in 2006, while a year later the total number of owned stores should further double and as of 2008 we intend to open 10 stores annually in Poland," said Beata Madejczyk from Decathlon. Since the launch of its operations in Poland, Decathlon has spent EUR 10 million. "The investment budget for 2005 stands at zl.55 million. So far we have spent zl.14 million on our Wroclaw outlet and zl.2 million on our Kraków outlet. The difference in costs is substantial, as the Wrocław outlet was built from scratch," said Madejczyk. The Decathlon network is almost fully comprised of own stores. "Our shareholders want to be fully convinced that sales outlets will fit the image of the company in 100%. Our investments are financed from our own funds, but sometimes we support ourselves with bank loans," said Madejczyk. (Puls Biznesu, pp.1, 11) M.M.