Decathlon to close down ‘country’s biggest sports store’ in Ahmedabad

Sports retail chain, Decathlon, plans to shut its Sardar Patel Ring Road store in Ahmedabad, launched seven years ago. This was “country’s biggest sports store” on January 15. “The operations of this store will be merged with those on CG Road and Motera in Ahmedabad,” said an official from the Decathlon sports store that was operating from a pre-engineered building provided by city-based builder Goyal & Co.

The buzz is footfalls at the store had dropped, especially after the pandemic, and the store was unable to sustain. As the first Decathlon store in Gujarat launched in 2013 it was also the largest outlet in the country, spread over 90,000 sq. ft with a generous playground and a huge parking space. Apart from Ahmedabad, Decalthon also operates stores in Vadodara and Surat in Gujarat. The closure of Decathlon store reflects the struggle being faced by the retail sector, especially those operating out of malls and shopping complexes in Ahmedabad where vacancy levels are as high as 75 per cent and rentals have dropped 10-15 per cent, post-Covid outbreak.