Business · Companies · 16 hrs ago
Decathlon Brazil adds smaller stores while focusing on modernizing its network
Decathlon is adding smaller stores in Brazil, with some locations opening inside shopping centers.
These stores, which can be up to 600 square meters, carry products chosen for local demand, while customers can order other items online and collect them at the store or have them delivered.
The smaller shops will complement, not replace, the large stores, which offer features such as camping displays, fitness showrooms and bicycle workshops.
The retailer has operated in Brazil for 25 years and has 53 stores, expanding at an average of about two openings a year.
The company is prioritizing store upgrades over a rapid expansion, aiming to improve the shopping experience and showcase more technical products.
Decathlon also makes textiles and bicycles locally and has its own design studio for Brazilian fitness and beachwear styles.
A new design center could eventually support exports, first to other South American operations and possibly to Europe if production reaches a much larger scale.
Decathlon Brazil is opening smaller stores of up to 600 square meters while keeping its larger stores.
The retailer says its priority is modernizing stores and improving the customer experience, not a rapid expansion of its network.
Smaller stores carry products selected for local demand, while customers can order other items online for pickup or home delivery.
The company has 53 stores in Brazil and has expanded at an average rate of two openings a year.
Its CEO says the new format will complement, not replace, the larger stores.
- Who
- Decathlon Brazil, led by CEO Cédric Burel.
- What
- The retailer is opening smaller stores of up to 600 square meters and modernizing its existing network.
- When
- The article was published on November 8, 2026. The source does not give dates for the smaller-store openings.
- Where
- Brazil, including some stores inside shopping centers.
- Why
- The company says it wants to modernize stores, improve the customer experience and match smaller stores’ product selection to local demand.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Decathlon Brazil expanded into the Northeast.
The company announced a global design center in Brazil focused especially on its Domyos fitness brand.
- Smaller stores
- Up to 600 square meters
- Traditional stores
- Can reach 4,000 square meters
- Brazilian network
- 53 stores
- Expansion pace
- An average of two store openings a year
- Product range
- 6,000 products across the company’s range
What people are saying
We cannot put our 6,000 products there, so we choose those that correspond to demand in that neighborhood, that location.
They will continue to offer a more complete experience, with camping tents set up for customers to enter, a fitness showroom, bicycle workshops.
We do not want to rush too much; our investment focus is much more on modernizing stores, improving the customer experience, and further boosting technical products in them.