Our Story

In 2020, we completed the transaction with Nike, starting to operate Nike in Brazil under the name Fisia. With the transaction, we became the exclusive distributor of Nike products, including apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment in the Brazilian territory and the exclusive direct operator of the electronic retail sales channel (www.nike.com.br) and exclusive retailer of brick-and-mortar Nike stores, being able to open and operate Nike stores in the Brazilian territory.

With this, Grupo SBF is relaunched, the ecosystem that will boost sport in Brazil.

On April 16, 2019, we held our initial public offering (IPO) on the São Paulo Stock Exchange, under the ticker CNTO3.

Capitalized, we were able to accelerate our growth and create new avenues of growth throughout the year: we opened 18 G5 stores, renovated 9 traditional tores for the G5 model, our omnichannel grew by more than 80% and the marketplace by around 120%. The growth was accompanied by an improvement in our NPS (Net Promoter Score), which reached the highest level in the Company’s history (82.6%), which indicates an improvement in our customers perception.

In 2018, Grupo SBF had 16 G5 stores and 100% of our stores operating as mini distribution centers and offering the possibility for customers to buy products on the digital platform and pick them up in physical stores; and send products purchased online from brick-and-mortar stores to customers’ addresses.

In the same year, the digital platform was responsible for 16.0% of total sales and grew 41.2% over the previous year. The results suggest that omnichannel creates value for customers: sales modalities that use the integration between all channels, in 2017, represented 12.1% of the digital platform’s sales volume, while in 2018, they represented 37.3%.

In 2017, we opened our first three Grupo SBF stores with the Generation 5 (G5) concept. The G5 store is the embodiment of our value proposition and offers experiences that improve the customer’s shopping journey, optimizing the advantages of omnichannel in physical stores, with several innovations designed so that the customer has experiences in the store that he cannot have in the store. digital platform, as well as opportunities for consumers to connect with sport.

In 2015, we underwent an operational restructuring with a strong focus on reducing expenses and improving our margin, which caused our productivity to increase considerably.

As part of this restructuring, we closed most of our By Tennis stores, which, over the 23 years of contributions to our business, proved to be a model with little strategic value.

In 2014, Grupo SBF was the official sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

In 2013, we invested even more in our digital platform. As a result, a new Distribution Center was opened in Jarinu/SP, expanding the operating area to 59,809 m², when considering all the Company’s distribution centers.

In 2012, when Grupo SBF already had 233 physical stores, our founder, who owned 100% of the Company’s capital, began to think about attracting an investment partner to continue the chain’s growth plans. Bomfim decided that the private equity fund GP Investments would be the ideal partner due to the alignment with GP’s principles with the Company’s principles (such as the appreciation for meritocracy) and the fund’s wide management experience, including in the retail sector.

In July 2009, when the first Grupo SBF store was opened in the state of Amazonas, an important step was taken towards an expansion process, confirming the Company’s physical presence in all five of the country’s regions.

In 2003, when the Company was present in more than 10 cities in Brazil, the digital platform was launched through the www.centauro.com.br website to serve consumers throughout Brazil.

In 2000, when visiting a newly opened Megastore bookstore, our founder realized that, in a country where people were passionate about sports, there was an opportunity to replicate this concept for the sports market. At the beginning, there was resistance from shopping center administrators, who were afraid to give up an area of around 1,000 m² to a sports products megastore, a new concept in the country. However, after many negotiations, we opened our first Grupo SBF store in this model, at Shopping West Plaza, in São Paulo/SP.

The recorded sales of the new store indicated that the implemented model would be successful and mall administrators quickly began to show interest in including Grupo SBF in their portfolio. Thus, we began to replicate the model and expand throughout Brazil.

The Company’s history began when our founder, Sebastião Vicente Bomfim Filho, realized that Brazilians were creating the habit of exercising regularly, but that there was still no sports retail company capable of meeting the needs of its customers. With this in mind, in April 1981, we inaugurated, in Belo Horizonte/MG, the first Grupo SBF store, with 4 employees and a very advanced store model compared to all existing sports stores until then.