Nike leaves Russia

By Trend

Nike did not renew the franchise agreement with Inventive Retail Group (IRG), which owns Russia's largest single-brand chain of stores of Nike, says a letter from IRG President Tikhon Smykov to the company's employees, Trend reports according to "Vedomosti".

He explains this decision by the fact that Nike cannot organize deliveries of goods to Russia "in the foreseeable future". "As inventory is depleted, IRG will be forced to close all of its stores under this brand," writes Smykov.

IRG PR director Lyudmila Semushina confirmed that the supply of Nike products was suspended, and the goods themselves were in short supply. “In the current realities, we cannot continue to support the work of mono-brand stores and will be forced to close them,” she said.

The non-renewal of the agreement with IRG as a whole may mean Nike's exit from the Russian market, Marina Malakhatko, director of the Core.XP retail department, believes. In March 2022, the company already stated that it "cannot guarantee the delivery of goods to customers in Russia." ?t stopped deliveries, the operation of the Russian online store and delivery to the region, and also temporarily closed all stores under direct control. From March to May, the number of Nike single-brand stores in Russia has already dropped from 116 to 56, according to the company's official website. Of these, 19 are temporarily closed.