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Flagship store GURO opened in Seoul, South Korea

In cooperation with Korea-based Master Franchise Partner LG-Fashion, the world’s largest sports retail brand INTERSPORT opened its third store in Korea, which claims to be the biggest multi sports store in this market. The store has a sales surface of 4,079 m², spread over two floors. It features more than 200 brands in 25 categories such as Football, Outdoor, Baseball, Basketball, Volleyball, Swimming, Camping and Fishing. On the first day, almost 8,000 people came to visit the new store with its state-of-the-art retail environment.

Not just offering quality products, sports expertise and reasonable prices, INTERSPORT GURO differentiates from already existing stores by several trial zones (e.g. baseball, yoga, table tennis, climbing, a running track, Nintendo Wii game, etc.)  that build excitement in the store, activate the customer and create sports passion. Bon-Keul Koo, LG Fashion CEO underlines that “Our store is not just a retail store, it’s a space bringing Dream and Big Impression to our consumers. It will give you a totally different experience from existing sports stores.”

According to INTERSPORT’s expansion plan, Korea was chosen as the first market to enter the Asia-Pacific Region. This is due to similarities with the European Market, such as strong preference for performance-driven and outdoor sports. Franz Julen, CEO of INTERSPORT International Corporation, states “Korea is the first step for expanding into the Asian market. We seek to strike the perfect balance between INTERSPORT’s sporting goods sales know-how and adapting to Korea’s unique market qualities, and we believe we achieved that.”

With the current economic situation at hand, it seems difficult to predict into the future. But

that being said, we hope to be in 10 Asian countries in 10 years, with 500 to 600 stores in the region

Franz Julen says.

Concerning the Korean market, Bon-Keul Koo adds:

Until the end of next year, we will have 8 to 9 stores.

With a turnover of over EUR 9.2 billion and more than 5'290 specialist sports stores in 39 countries, the INTERSPORT Group has further strengthened its position as the leader in the world’s sporting goods market.

Further information:
Franz Julen, CEO IIC-INTERSPORT International Corp. Bern / Switzerland	Bon-Keul Koo, President and CEO LG Fashion Corporation Seoul / South Korea
Phone:      +41-31-930 7803 Fax:            +41-31-930 7897 e-mail:        franz.julen@intersport.com	Phone:      +82 (2) 3441 8000                                       +82 (2) 3441 8000 Fax:            +82 (2) 3441 8010            e-mail:        bkkoo@lgfashion.co.kr