French sporting goods retailer Decathlon plans to open its first store in Serbia in the summer of 2019, the Belgrade city government has said.
The store will be located in Belgrade and its construction is expected to start in the beginning of next year, the Belgrade city government said in a statement on Tuesday.
Decathlon has plans for the construction of more than one store in Belgrade, the city government said.
"Belgrade has changed, last year and this year, Ikea and Hilton opened in our city, and Decathlon is another big name that will come to our city. This is very important because it also means more jobs, which is an absolute priority," the mayor of Belgrade, Sinisa Mali, said during a meeting with the company's international development manager Xavier Galice.
The Serbian capital starts a new investment cycle and now it is much easier to attract investors, as the public finances have been consolidated, Mali said.
Elsewhere in Southeastern Europe, Decathlon operates stores in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia.