Hermès Temporarily Closes Russia Stores
French luxury brand, Hermès, has revealed that it will temporarily close all its stores in Russia. The move to close its stores follows the growing concern around the events in Europe.
The luxury brand’s move to close its three stores in the country follows growing concerns around Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
“Deeply concerned by the situation in Europe at this time, it is with regret that we have taken the decision to temporarily close our stores in Russia and pause all our commercial activities from the evening of March 4th,” said the company in a LinkedIn post.
Other brands and retailers such as IKEA and H&M have also suspended their operations in Russia.
IKEA, for one, is one of the first global businesses to pull the plug in not just Russia but also Belarus, which has played an instrumental role in facilitating Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The company operates 17 locations in Russia, along with one distribution center. As of August last year, Russia was the 10th largest market for the retailer, accounting for 4% of total retail sales worth $1.8 billion. Belarus, meanwhile, is just a sourcing market and has no IKEA stores in the country.
The impact of the ongoing war is also reverberating across global markets. Fast-fashion retailer, SHEIN, had to put off its U.S. IPO plans on hold due to the volatility in the market that has come as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Originally published at https://retailbum.com on March 4, 2022.
