Sports retailer Decathlon permanently places its new distribution centre in Tilburg. The French company initially had its eye on another site, but was forced to move out due to nesting birds at that location.
Decathlon currently still supplies its Dutch shops from warehouses in Belgium and Germany. Due to rapid growth in the number of Dutch shops, the retailer wants to move these distribution activities to the Netherlands.
The French chain initially had its eye on Charlotte business park, where it wanted to build a distribution centre next to De Bijenkorf's logistics centre. However, due to breeding birds, Decathlon could not move there in time. "The breeding season started earlier than expected this year. As a result, we were unable to start felling trees and preparing for construction," Adriaan Molenschot, director of property developer HVBM told the Brabants Dagblad.
Other location
As Decathlon wants to be operational in Tilburg by May 2020, it had to move to another location. HVBM had already bought and offered a redevelopment site on the Kraaiven industrial estate. The distribution centre could be fitted into the signed form. Construction work has since started.
Image: HVBM
Two phases
The building will have an area of 45,000 square metres and will be built in two phases, the first phase consisting of two units with a total area of 31,716 square metres of office, mezzanine and warehouse space. This section will be occupied by Decathlon in May 2020. The second phase of the distribution centre comprises 13,197 square metres of office and warehouse space and will be built and commissioned subsequently.
Labour potential
With the premises in Tilburg, Decathlon is creating 150 jobs in the short term. In doing so, it is focusing primarily on the existing workforce. "That was an important reason for choosing Tilburg," Rohan Uijlings, Decathlon's director of real estate, said earlier about this. "We like to welcome students, they can grow. But there is also room for older people who have a few hours to spare. The basis is that employees are vital and sporty and enjoy working."
Image: Bjoern Wylezich / Shutterstock.com
