Decathlon is a major French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

ing good chain store, with stores located throughout the world. It started with a shop near Lille

Lille

Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

, France in 1976. It expanded to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1986, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 in 1992 and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 1999. It entered the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 market by purchasing the New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 20-store MVP Sports chain in 1999, rebranding them as Decathlon USA. A restructuring led to all but four Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 locations closing in 2003. In September 2006, Decathlon announced its decision to exit the US altogether by year's end.

The retailer stocks a wide range of sporting goods, from tennis racquets to advanced scuba diving

Scuba diving

Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

 equipment, usually in large superstores. Decathlon Group also owns the Toboggan and Decat stores, the former sells sporting goods at discount prices, whilst the latter is a smaller high street

High Street

High Street, or the High Street, is a metonym for the generic name of the primary business street of towns or cities, especially in the United Kingdom. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in city centres, and is most often used in reference to retailing...

 sized version of the larger Decathlon superstores.

In 2007 the group is the largest sporting goods reseller with a turnover of USD 6,123,000.

Locations

Stores are located globally, in the following countries:

9 stores: 6 stores: 2 stores: 36 stores: 240 stores: 12 stores: 8 stores: 1 stores: 64 stores: 2 stores: 20 stores: 22 stores: 6 stores: 8 stores: 1 store (opening Christmas 2012): 75 stores: 1 store: 2 stores (as of August 2010): 9 stores: (closed 2006)

It is also possible to buy online for delivery in Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Germany, India, Italy and Spain.

Branding

The chain is one of the few sporting chain stores that develops and sells its own brands. Each group of activities has a separate brand name:

• APTONIA - Nutrition and health care
• ARTENGO - Racquet sports
• B'TWIN - Cycle sports
• CAPERLAN - Fishing
• DOMYOS - Fitness, dance, martial arts and contact sports
• FOUGANZA - Horse riding
• GEOLOGIC - Nature sports, archery, darts and pétanque
• GEONAUTE - Sports & Electronics
• INESIS - Golf
• KALENJI - Running
• KIPSTA - Team sports
• NABAIJI - Swimming
• NEWFEEL - Walking
• OXELO - Roller, skate and ice sports
• QUECHUA
  Quechua (brand)
  Quechua is a mountain sports brand founded in 1997 in Domancy, France, producing Hiking, Trail running, Adventure racing, Climbing and Mountaineering apparel and equipment and is sold in every store of Decathlon Group and sportswear shops. It currently employs about 150 persons. The name comes...
  
  - Mountain sports
• ROCKRIDER - Mountain bike
• SIMOND - alpinism
• SOLOGNAC - Hunting
• TRIBORD - Water sports
• WED'ZE - Ski, snowboarding
• MYSPORTEEZY - Event organization (birthday, corporate day...)

Decathlon has also developed brands of components which provide a technical support for the products of brands Passion:

• EQUAREA - Active evacuation of sweating
• ESSENSOLE - Shoe soles and insoles
• NOVADRY - Impermeable and breathable clothes
• OUTCHOC - Sport protection
• STRATERMIC - Warm and light clothes
• STRENFIT - Backpacks
• SUPPORTIV - Support and compression