HELSINKI, 2015-9-1 — /EPR Retail News/ — The Kesko-owned Intersport Finland Ltd has opened the world’s first Intersport RUN&FIT specialist store at the Galeria shopping mall in St. Petersburg. The new store concept opens up a new era for Intersport and supports the chain’s expansion into city centres and shopping malls with high customer flows. Specialist stores are able to serve customers better. Intersport Finland Ltd is responsible for Intersport’s chain operations also in Russia.
– Running and fitness are sports that are steadily becoming more popular in Russia. This megatrend has been taken into account in our Intersport RUN&FIT stores. These specialist stores of 200 m2 to 400 m2 are an ideal complement to our multi-sports stores of 600 m2 to 1,500 m2. In three years, we plan to open at least 10 Intersport RUN&FIT stores in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” says Mikhail Landyshev, Intersport Country Director for Russia.
The sales area of the world’s first RUN&FIT specialist store opened in St. Petersburg is 250 m2.
Intersport International Corp. (IIC) has developed specialist store concepts for the categories Running/Fitness, Teamsport and Outdoor. With the new store concepts and expert staff specialised in different product groups the Intersport retailers will be able to differentiate from the competition in a market situation where generalists with a variety of sports categories on sales areas of 200 m2 to 400 m2 would otherwise face increasing difficulties in the competition.
Besides Russia, Intersport specialist stores are planned to open in 14 other market areas in the next three years. Intersport specialist stores will be primarily located in city centres and shopping malls. By 2019, Intersport plans to have more than 50 specialist stores.
Further information:
President Jussi Mikkola, Intersport Finland Ltd, tel. +358 105 339 048
Intersport and The Athlete’s Foot
With retail sales of EUR 10.5 billion and more than 5,400 affiliated stores in 44 countries, Intersport is the world’s leading sporting goods retailer. In December 2012 Intersport acquired the athletic speciality footwear chain, The Athlete’s Foot, with around 400 stores in 25 countries and retail sales of EUR 290 million. The Intersport Group is represented in 66 countries on all five continents.
Kesko’s leisure trade
Kesko’s leisure trade provides customers with the best selections in the sports and footwear trade and serves with a highly accessible store network, online stores and digital services. The leisure trade chains are Intersport, Budget Sport, Kesport and Kookenkä. Intersport is the market leader in Finland’s sports trade and Kookenkä is Finland’s widest shoe store chain. In addition, Kesko’s leisure trade is responsible for Intersport’s chain operations in Russia. In 2014, the retail sales of the leisure chains were over 350 million euros and the total number of personnel in the chains was around 1,200. The leisure trade business is part of Kesko’s home improvement and speciality goods trade division. Read more at www.kesko.fi.