MOSCOW: Russian designers and brands are helping the retail sector gradually recover from a turbulent 15 months of store closures and slumping demand, with new labels plugging the gap left by foreign rivals and shoppers tentatively returning.
Hundreds of foreign retailers shut up shop in response to Russia despatching troops to Ukraine in February 2022, leaving some of Moscow’s most prestigious streets with boarded-up stores and the industry reeling from a roughly US$2.5 billion hit.
Spain’s Inditex has sold some of its more than 500 Russian stores to a UAE-based buyer. Its flagship Zara store in central Moscow, which sat idle for over a year, last month reopened under new management and a new brand, MAAG, leaving customers largely satisfied.
“It looks like nothing has changed since you-know-who was here,” Moscow resident Anton told Reuters outside the store.
Fellow Muscovite Antonina said: “I did not find any differences apart from the variety of choice. There’s less of everything at the moment.”
MONEY TALKING
Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer demand, slumped in 2022, hit by soaring inflation and falling wages, while the Western exodus contributed to heavy industry losses, said Oleg Klimov, the president of Russia’s Council of Shopping Centres, with logistics and payment concerns taking months to resolve.
“People in general just did not understand what was going on,” he told Reuters. “They did not want to spend money. The losses were about 200 billion roubles (US$2.47 billion).
“But it is recovering now,” he added. “Money always eventually changes hands.”
For all the latest world News Click Here
