Decathlon's story - our key dates

The first store opened in Englos (in Northern France), bringing all the sports under the same roof.

- The famous “TULULUTUTU” jingle is composed! “TULULUTUTU” and the slogan “SPORT FOR THE MANY!” are still the same to this day!

The 1st warehouse opens in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (Nord, France). The suppliers no longer directly deliver to stores, with DECATHLON handling the logistics.

The hero of our first advertisement: Tarzan.

The creation of “DECATHLON Production” to design and manufacture our DECATHLON signature branded products. The bike frame is one of the first articles manufactured.

Right next to it: visual of the 1st frame of the Challenger bike by DECATHLON.

1st Decathlon store opens outside France at Dortmund (Germany).

Logistics continues its development in France. An 8,000 sqm warehouse opens in Vitrolle (in Southern France).

We create the TROCATHLON, allowing our customers to buy and sell to each other second-hand equipment.

We create Decathlon's Training Academy for training teams in-house.

5,000 TEAMMATES and 100 STORES!

• DECATHLON crosses the French Alps and opens in Milan (Italy).

• Shift from 100% manual logistics to mechanised logistics.

DECATHLON Campus opens in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, (Northern France).

We create DECATHLON SportsLab. Its assignment: analyse the human body's movements to design innovative technical products that are even more comfortable!

• The logistics goes international! 1st warehouse opens outside France, in Martorell (Spain).

• Store No 171 opens in Trans-en-Provence (Var, France). It was the smallest DECATHLON store with an 898 sq. m surface area before being modernised and extended in 2018.

• Launched B’Twin 5, an excellent balance between an MTB and a city bike. Its slogan: “At ease just as much everywhere as everywhere”.

A site entirely dedicated to mountain sports. The design team moved to Domancy (Haute-Savoie, France).

• Official opening of the first DECATHLON Village, at Bouc-Bel-Air (Bouches-du-Rhône, France).

• New century, new stores. DECATHLON opens in Brazil in Sao Paulo.

• We unveil the “Human Responsibility in Production” charter and conduct first audits of our suppliers.

• Site in Hendaye opens (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France), entirely dedicated to water sports.

• DECATHLON faces the cold and opens its first store in Moscow (Russia).

• We establish the DECATHLON Foundation. Teammates create a foundation supporting sports projects helping the inclusion of people in vulnerable situations.

• The first DECATHLON franchise store opens in Guadeloupe (Caribbean).

• New small-format store concept. Nowadays renamed DECATHLON Essentiel, the first store, then called TOBOGGAN, opened in Bron (Rhône, France).


• QUECHUA launches the famous “2 Seconds” pop-up tents, proving to be a success and symbolising DECATHLON's approach to innovation.

• koodza.fr becomes decathlon.com. Our customers can reserve their items online!

• We establish the environmental leader network in our brands and industrial processes.

• DOMYOS, the brand dedicated to indoor fitness sports, sets its teams up in the Domyos Centre, at Marcq-en-Baroeul, in Northern France (photo).

• A design centre and store dedicated to shooting, fishing and archery opens in Cestas (Gironde, France).

• Human Responsibility in Products audits are conducted in-house.

• Inesis Golf Park opens in Marcq-en-Baroeul (Northern France).

• 45 000 TEAMMATES and 600 STORES!

• We establish the B’Twin Village in Lille (Northern, France), a new cycling park for bike enthusiasts.

We opened a new position dedicated to Human Responsibility in Production.

• DECATHLON experiments with environmental labelling, enabling customers to compare its products' impact.

• Launch Click & Collect, which becomes our customers preferred delivery option in 2015.

We conduct first generalised on-site water treatment audits at our suppliers.

• The QUECHUA teams move to a unique setting: 10,000 sq. m where designers and sports users can directly exchange with each other. New: the site is designed in line with an environmentally friendly approach.

• decathlon.fr website achieves 145 million visits.

• The Kiosk Plus is installed in the store. And allows the customer to access 100% of the internet product offer.

• Kexuedadao (China) hosts the 1000th DECATHLON store.

• Kipstadium opens in Tourcoing (Nord, France). Team sports enthusiasts get their playground