With new labels filling the void left by foreign competition and shoppers tentatively returning, Russian designers and brands are aiding the retail sector’s gradual recovery from a rocky 15 months of store closures and sagging demand.
In response to Russia sending soldiers to Ukraine in February 2022, hundreds of foreign merchants closed their doors, leaving boarded-up stores on some of Moscow’s most famous districts and the economy suffering from a blow of about $2.5 billion.
A bidder headquartered in the UAE purchased some of Inditex’s more than 500 outlets in Russia. Customers were mainly pleased when the company’s flagship Zara store in the heart of Moscow, which had been closed for more than a year, returned last month under new leadership and a new brand, MAAG.
According to Oleg Klimov, the president of Russia’s Council of Shopping Centres, retail sales, a key indicator of consumer demand, fell in 2022 due to high inflation and declining wages, as well as the Western exodus, which contributed to losses in heavy industry. It also took months to resolve logistics and payment issues.
The downtown Moscow H&M store has been taken over by Gloria Jeans, a former Levi’s jeans reseller. Additionally, trade routes are made more difficult by the West’s rejection of Russia, export restrictions, and harsh sanctions.
Small-scale imports and online retailers have helped Russians discover strategies to keep foreign brands alive, but some items are still hard to come by.
