Japanese casual wear retailer Uniqlo has ceased operations in Russia and offloaded all of its stores in the country, the Vedomosti newspaper reported this week, citing a company partner.
The information was confirmed by the owners of Russian shopping malls where Uniqlo outlets were previously located.
“Uniqlo has refused to lease premises for all its stores in Russia,” a Vedomosti source was quoted as saying.
Most of Uniqlo’s former outlets have already been occupied by Russian clothing brands such as Lime and Gloria Jeans, according to the report.
Uniqlo halted operations at all of its 50 Russian stores last year and ceased online sales following the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. The company appeared reluctant to leave, and Uniqlo owner Tadashi Yanai defended the initial decision last March to keep Russian stores open, saying that clothing is a “necessity of life.”
“The people of Russia have the same right to live as we do,” he said at the time, before the decision was reversed.
Over the past year, the retailer has been offloading its online stock to compensate for losses of over 10 billion rubles ($106 million), generated by the necessity to pay rent for closed stores. According to data from Uniqlo Rus, the company earned 12 billion rubles ($127 million) last year.
Although the legal entity of the retailer has ceased all activities in Russia, Uniqlo does not plan to liquidate it and hopes to someday resume business, the unnamed partner told Vedomosti. However, they claimed it would be difficult to do so as the brand’s premises have been transferred to other firms. Uniqlo has also lost the trust of the owners of shopping malls, so it will not be able to receive preferential lease terms, the source stated.
Nevertheless, Uniqlo products continue to be sold on some Russian marketplaces, most likely under the current parallel import program, experts interviewed by Vedomosti explained.
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