Montpellier is “the first city I considered. Its reputation is well established in terms of commerce.”
Jean Thiriez holds the franchise for the Danish brand Søstrene Grene in the south of France. As such, he spoke on October 3 at the Fabre museum in Montpellier as part of Visio Commerce Day, co-organized by the Hérault Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) in partnership with the specialized trade federation Procos.
The brand represented by Jean Thiriez will open a store covering more than 1,000 square meters next February on Rue Maguelone in Montpellier, 30 meters from the central Place de la Comédie. “It will be our second largest store in France,” he adds. Søstrene Grene is following in the footsteps of the Decathlon sporting goods store, which opened a 200 m² Decathlon City outlet in Montpellier’s Polygone shopping center on September 19.
“We have confidence in the area where we are based. Mobility is extraordinary and we feel confident when local authorities invest. Here, the city is rebuilding itself,” highlights Guillaume Sarthe, Decathlon’s development manager for Eastern Occitanie, during the event, which also featured a presentation by Julien Tuffery.
“The opportunity to benefit from a pop-up store on Place de la Comédie allowed us to test the depth of the metropolitan market,” continued the CEO of Atelier Tuffery, a jeans manufacturer based in Florac (Lozère department), which has since established a permanent presence in Montpellier by opening a store on Boulevard du Jeu-de-Paume a year and a half ago.
Their Montpellier experiment is now expanding. Atelier Tuffery is opening a new store in Paris in the coming weeks, in the Marais district on Rue des Blancs-Manteaux. “We wouldn't have done this without first establishing ourselves in Montpellier,” said the CEO.
The Montpellier metropolitan area continues to see growth in the retail sector. The Hérault Chamber of Commerce and Industry confirmed this in a study it unveiled during the day-long event. Between 2020 and 2025, “the number of businesses increased by 13.1%,” a rise “driven mainly by the culture and leisure sector, together with hygiene, health, and beauty businesses.”
The Hérault CCI study also identifies the strengths of the Montpellier metropolitan area, in particular: “a socio-demographic dynamic that supports commercial vitality”; “a connected area that supports commercial attractiveness”; “purchasing behaviors that reveal tremendous commercial capital”; and “a strong tourism industry that benefits businesses (€1.6 billion in economic impact, 5 million visitors/year, and 15 million overnight stays).”
“Brands invest for the long term. To establish themselves and grow, they need visibility regarding local commercial strategy. This requires work and shared vision among all local decision-makers,” concluded Emmanuel Le Roch, then General Delegate of Procos.
