Selling sports Not so long ago, there were fears that everyone would buy their sports clothing and equipment via the Internet and sporting goods stores would go the way of the dodo bird. That certainly isn t happening. In fact, many sports sites on the Web are disappearing. One trendy new sporting goods store in Paris has noticed the trend and capitalized on it. Citadium opened last week near the Boulevard Houssmann and the fancy department stores or grand magasin as they are known here.
Billboards advertising the store show real athletes and computer-game images side by side.
Le reel est plus fort que le virtuel, which translates, roughly, to the real is more intense than the virtual. Inside are four floors of just about everything for sports. While the emphasis is on clothing, there is equipment as well. The escalators are in a circular central hall and you can see the mechanism through clear sidewalls. Each floor is roughly circular so it is easy to find everything, and the tendency is to walk all the way around.