diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 26c459f..94c33bc 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ opendal = { version = "0.51.0", features = ["services-http"] }
 tokio = { version = "1.41.1", features = ["rt-multi-thread"] }
 zarrs_opendal = "0.5.0"
 zarrs_metadata = "0.3.3" # require recent zarr-python compatibility fixes (remove with zarrs 0.20)
+itertools = "0.9.0"
 
 [profile.release]
 lto = true
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index cae087c..a38be9b 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,9 +2,12 @@
 #![allow(clippy::module_name_repetitions)]
 
 use std::borrow::Cow;
+use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::ptr::NonNull;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
+use chunk_item::WithSubset;
+use itertools::Itertools;
 use numpy::npyffi::PyArrayObject;
 use numpy::{PyArrayDescrMethods, PyUntypedArray, PyUntypedArrayMethods};
 use pyo3::exceptions::{PyRuntimeError, PyTypeError, PyValueError};
@@ -14,12 +17,16 @@ use pyo3_stub_gen::derive::{gen_stub_pyclass, gen_stub_pymethods};
 use rayon::iter::{IntoParallelIterator, ParallelIterator};
 use rayon_iter_concurrent_limit::iter_concurrent_limit;
 use unsafe_cell_slice::UnsafeCellSlice;
-use zarrs::array::codec::{ArrayToBytesCodecTraits, CodecOptions, CodecOptionsBuilder};
+use utils::is_whole_chunk;
+use zarrs::array::codec::{
+    ArrayPartialDecoderTraits, ArrayToBytesCodecTraits, CodecOptions, CodecOptionsBuilder,
+};
 use zarrs::array::{
     copy_fill_value_into, update_array_bytes, ArrayBytes, ArraySize, CodecChain, FillValue,
 };
 use zarrs::array_subset::ArraySubset;
 use zarrs::metadata::v3::MetadataV3;
+use zarrs::storage::StoreKey;
 
 mod chunk_item;
 mod concurrency;
@@ -265,15 +272,44 @@ impl CodecPipelineImpl {
             return Ok(());
         };
 
+        // Assemble partial decoders ahead of time and in parallel
+        let partial_chunk_descriptions = chunk_descriptions
+            .iter()
+            .filter(|item| !(is_whole_chunk(item)))
+            .unique_by(|item| item.key())
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+        let mut partial_decoder_cache: HashMap<StoreKey, Arc<dyn ArrayPartialDecoderTraits>> =
+            HashMap::new().into();
+        if partial_chunk_descriptions.len() > 0 {
+            let key_decoder_pairs = iter_concurrent_limit!(
+                chunk_concurrent_limit,
+                partial_chunk_descriptions,
+                map,
+                |item| {
+                    let input_handle = self.stores.decoder(item)?;
+                    let partial_decoder = self
+                        .codec_chain
+                        .clone()
+                        .partial_decoder(
+                            Arc::new(input_handle),
+                            item.representation(),
+                            &codec_options,
+                        )
+                        .map_py_err::<PyValueError>()?;
+                    Ok((item.key().clone(), partial_decoder))
+                }
+            )
+            .collect::<PyResult<Vec<_>>>()?;
+            partial_decoder_cache.extend(key_decoder_pairs);
+        }
+
         py.allow_threads(move || {
             // FIXME: the `decode_into` methods only support fixed length data types.
             // For variable length data types, need a codepath with non `_into` methods.
             // Collect all the subsets and copy into value on the Python side?
             let update_chunk_subset = |item: chunk_item::WithSubset| {
                 // See zarrs::array::Array::retrieve_chunk_subset_into
-                if item.chunk_subset.start().iter().all(|&o| o == 0)
-                    && item.chunk_subset.shape() == item.representation().shape_u64()
-                {
+                if is_whole_chunk(&item) {
                     // See zarrs::array::Array::retrieve_chunk_into
                     if let Some(chunk_encoded) = self.stores.get(&item)? {
                         // Decode the encoded data into the output buffer
@@ -308,12 +344,10 @@ impl CodecPipelineImpl {
                         }
                     }
                 } else {
-                    let input_handle = Arc::new(self.stores.decoder(&item)?);
-                    let partial_decoder = self
-                        .codec_chain
-                        .clone()
-                        .partial_decoder(input_handle, item.representation(), &codec_options)
-                        .map_py_err::<PyValueError>()?;
+                    let key = item.key();
+                    let partial_decoder = partial_decoder_cache.get(key).ok_or_else(|| {
+                        PyRuntimeError::new_err(format!("Partial decoder not found for key: {key}"))
+                    })?;
                     unsafe {
                         // SAFETY:
                         // - output is an array with output_shape elements of the item.representation data type,
diff --git a/src/utils.rs b/src/utils.rs
index 5855b54..b33b4b1 100644
--- a/src/utils.rs
+++ b/src/utils.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ use std::fmt::Display;
 use numpy::{PyUntypedArray, PyUntypedArrayMethods};
 use pyo3::{Bound, PyErr, PyResult, PyTypeInfo};
 
+use crate::{ChunksItem, WithSubset};
+
 pub(crate) trait PyErrExt<T> {
     fn map_py_err<PE: PyTypeInfo>(self) -> PyResult<T>;
 }
@@ -29,3 +31,8 @@ impl PyUntypedArrayExt for Bound<'_, PyUntypedArray> {
         })
     }
 }
+
+pub fn is_whole_chunk(item: &WithSubset) -> bool {
+    item.chunk_subset.start().iter().all(|&o| o == 0)
+        && item.chunk_subset.shape() == item.representation().shape_u64()
+}