Fox’s first destination in Poland: Arcadia Mall

The Fox group will open a huge store of the international sports chain Pot Locker in the Arcadia Mall in Warsaw, the largest mall in Poland, Calcalist has learned. This is a commercial center that is considered especially popular by Israeli tourists due to the variety of shops and the cheap prices in it. Fox will set up the concept store through a retailer company, under which the group’s sports activities are incorporated. The store will be launched in the coming months on an area of ​​550 square meters, and NIS 3 million will be invested in its construction.

In 2021, the Fox Group will open 10 stores in Europe of the Pot Locker chain, as part of an agreement it signed this week with the global company to open brand stores in Europe through Retailers. Fox, managed by Harel Wiesel, will immediately start operating 7 Pot Locker stores in Hungary and Poland, which until now were owned by Pot Locker and their operations were transferred to the joint company established by the parties.

Having defined the sports field as a future growth engine, the Fox Group is realizing its business strategy and investing resources in the expansion of the two American sports brands of which it is a franchisee, Nike and Pot Locker, in Israel and around the world. Until now, Fox has had a franchise to operate the brand’s stores in Israel only. It has now signed an agreement with Pot Locker under which a partnership has been established that will manage physical stores and online activities of the sports network in European countries. Pot Locker will hold 51% of the shares in the joint venture and Fox 49%.

Harel Wiesel and in the background the Arcadia Mall, Warsaw Photo: Dima Tliansky

The agreement stipulates that Retailers and Pot Locker will jointly invest $ 20 million in the joint venture, in accordance with their relative share. Fox estimates that Retailers will invest NIS 35 million in the joint venture’s operations during the first three years of operations. The joint venture of Fox and Pot Locker will set up stores under the Pot Locker brand in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine and Croatia, and within five years 55 stores will be established. Restrictions on commercial complexes and street shops are currently being lifted in Poland and Hungary, but it is not known if and when they will return, as happened in Israel. The fashion industry says that examining whether the deal is good or not will last for a long time. “Fox is partnering with top brands that produce products whose demand levels are growing,” says a source in the fashion industry. On the other hand, apart from Poland and Hungary, the agreement includes entering new countries in which Pot Locker does not currently operate and the question arises as to how strong this brand is in those countries. The examination of the transaction will be in accordance with the profit margins that will remain for Fox after the operating expenses and whether this business knows how to leave profit margins that are worth the risk during.

Another factor in the retail industry emphasizes that this is actually a good timing after the corona crisis reduced rental costs. “Wiesel has proven that he knows how to deploy international brands and get good conditions for operating the stores,” he said. It will take time to open the stores, so the idea is that Corona will be behind us while the sports trend is getting stronger all over the world. Fox already has experience operating Nike in Canada, and that could contribute to it. ”

Fox, which also owns a franchise for Nike in Canada and 14 European countries, plans to expand in this respect as well and is expected to open 15 new brand stores around the world, having signed 20% discounted leases during the Corona crisis. At the same time, Fox is setting up a new sports network called Dream Sports.