The French sports retailer plans to employ 30 people in the new shop, and announces it will decide by the autumn whether to open some more shops in Slovenia.

Extending on an area of more than 2,200 square metres, the new shop in Tržaška Street will be selling equipment for more than 70 sports.

"Maribor is an exceptionally beautiful city with many opportunities for sport activities, and it is also a city of athletes and sport enthusiasts," said Decathlon director for Slovenia and Croatia Michel Kappler.

The company is more than satisfied with the first shop that was opened in Ljubljana last year, as it has so far been visited by more than 350,000 buyers.

"We certainly plan to open another shop in Slovenia. It will be known in the autumn when and where," said communication director for Slovenia and Croatia Alexander Milović.

Decathlon sells 70 brands by leading sports equipment makers and 20 of its own brands for a wide variety of sports.

It is present in 27 countries, including France, Spain, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Russia and China, employing 70,000 people. It generated EUR 9.1bn in revenue in 2015.