The clothing manufacturer Uniqlo can completely leave Russia

The Japanese brand Uniqlo, which produces and sells clothes, may completely leave Russia. The company terminated lease agreements with several shopping centers. This is reported by Kommersant.

In the spring of 2022, Uniqlo suspended its work in Russia after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to Kommersant’s source in the commercial real estate market, the Japanese company later decided to leave the country and will not reopen the stores. This has already been reported to local employees of the brand. Another source of the publication reports that Uniqlo was going to completely withdraw from Russia in the fall of 2022, but originally planned to close only unprofitable stores. Earlier, “Izvestia” reported that the company intends to keep only five stores in the country.

The Russian office of Uniqlo did not answer Kommersant journalists, and they were unable to contact the owner of the Fast Retailing brand.

Before Uniqlo suspended operations in Russia in March 2022, the brand had 50 stores in the country. In 2021, the revenue of Uniqlo’s Russian division grew by 55.18% to 26.99 billion rubles, and the net profit was 4.12 billion rubles.

• On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded the territory of Ukraine. After that, the H&M Group and Inditex brands (Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara), as well as Adidas, Nike, Puma, Reebok, Mango, Marks & Spencer, Uniqlo, Vans and others
• In total, after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, more than a thousand organizations closed their activities in Russia, of which 297 left the country completely. The USA and European countries regularly impose sanctions prohibiting or limiting cooperation with Russian companies.