Sports Direct to open large flagship stores

The retailer will open ten flagship stores each in the UK and continental Europe.

Retailer Sports Direct will follow an updated retail development strategy. The company will focus on opening larger flagship stores instead of regular outlets.

About ten Sport Direct flagship stores are planned to open in the UK in addition to the existing ones. The retailer will also add ten more stores in the European market outside the UK. At the same time, several smaller stores, up to 20,000 square feet, may close.

Sports Direct has previously closed small stores in Manchester and Birmingham, effectively replacing them with new, larger format stores. Similar steps may be taken in other markets. It is known that the chain’s flagship store will open at the end of the year in Dublin. Locations in which small stores will be consolidated will have staff transferred to the new flagships, writes RetailGazette.

“When we open a new flagship, we look at local 10,000-square-foot and 20,000-square-foot stores for consolidation opportunities,” Frasers Group Managing Director of Sports Ger Wright commented.

The retailer has recently pursued an expansion strategy that upgrades existing stores into premium outlets. Sports Direct opened its 50,000-square-foot flagship store at the Arndale Centre mall this week. The Manchester store has been called “the most state-of-the-art in the retailer’s portfolio to date.”