Competition in the sportswear retail market is set to intensify following Champion Sports's take-over of the Marathon chain of shops in the Republic. The move makes Champion the new market leader. Both Champion and its closest competitor, Lifestyle, have ambitious plans to expand their operations in a market which has been significantly more buoyant than in the UK over the past five years.
With Marathon on side, Champion and Lifestyle will be in direct competition for prime trading opportunities that arise over the next few years, particularly in major shopping centres due to open at Dundrum and Swords in Dublin and Mahon in Cork.
Although the enlarged Champions Sports company will have a turnover of almost £60 million this year, its branch network is heavily concentrated in the Dublin region, where 20 of its 26 shops are located.
Lifestyle has a greater geographical spread of outlets with 36 in the Republic and 10 in the North. In the current year, about £30 million of Lifestyle's turnover will come from the Republic and £10 million from shops north of the border.
Champion, by comparison, will have a turnover of almost £40 million this year from its 15 outlets as against the £20 million expected by Marathon from its 11 shops.
The combined operation should allow the Champion management to copper-fasten its hold on the crucial Dublin market, which sets the trend for the rest of the country. It will also allow the company to expand rapidly into other cities and large provincial towns. Cork and Waterford have been targeted along with Northern Ireland, where Lifestyle has had a good head-start.
Lifestyle's broader spread was dictated by the strategy of the previous owners, Power Supermarkets, to locate Lifestyle and Penneys in many of the large shopping centres anchored by Quinnsworth (now Tesco), Super Crazy Prices and in the north by Stewarts. Lifestyle was bought out in September, 1997, by a five-man management team for £15 million and since then it has added three new stores (Anne Street in Belfast, Tralee and Bray) and replaced six more, mainly moving out from under Tesco's wing.
Lifestyle's priorities over the coming year will be to find suitable premises (at least 2,000 sq. ft units) in Cork, Kilkenny, Waterford and Drogheda.
Champion Sports have had a meteoric growth. The company was founded only seven years ago but was quick to capitalise on a fast-expanding market by opening stores at prime city centre locations such as Grafton Street (two outlets), O'Connell Street, Henry Street and Mary Street. It also got prime trading pitches in leading shopping centres, including ILAC, Stephen's Green, Jervis Street and Blanchardstown.
The acquisition of Marathon will give the Champion management a broader spread of the market. Marathon, which specialises in Nike products, will continue to trade under that name. Champion will concentrate on Adidas products.
Lifestyle's steady growth has been largely based on its Nike, Adidas and Reebok products. The sports-leisure market, in common with other fashion sectors, is ever changing, with new lines constantly being launched. Many shops are reporting a fall off in sales of replica soccer jerseys produced under licence principally because they are over priced. This seems to be the only downturn in a market that is expected to continue its spectacular growth in the coming year.
