Re:Store reformats stores into multi-brand stores

The chain of hardware and electronics stores re:Store announced a change in brand concept and redesign. The first store in the new format opened on September 14 on Neglinnaya Street, 8/10 in Moscow on the site of the Rendez-Vous point in the Apartment House of the Moscow Merchants.

The key change is related to the assortment (previously the chain sold primarily Apple equipment). Since 2022, re:Store began to expand it; branded products appeared in stores in the categories of household goods (robot vacuum cleaners, etc.), sports, leisure, games, music and entertainment (speakers, game consoles, automated chess and etc.), health, as well as products for animals (automatic feeders, drinking bowls, etc.). Of the Russian brands, Bork household appliances are represented on the network, and smart TVs with the Alice voice assistant will soon appear, added Rasim Lemberansky, director of the re:Store network.

The chain consists of 86 stores represented in 22 cities of the country. The network is included in Inventive Retail Groupthe largest Russian partner who announced their departure from the domestic market of Apple, Samsung, Lego, Nike. In 2022, the company’s revenue amounted to 71 billion rubles. with VAT, there are 365 stores in the network. The owner of Inventive Retail group is a group of companies “Lanit“, the main ultimate owner is Philipp Gens.

New stores will open on an area of ​​150-200 sq. m (the average area of ​​operating stores today is 100 sq. m). This format will allow you to expand the display of goods and connect almost all devices. The re:Store chain store in the Evropeisky shopping center is already operating in a new format, and the next opening will be a store in the Afimall shopping center. The corporate identity will be updated in all retail outlets of the chain throughout the year. The retail market is booming, the exodus of foreign players has opened up many opportunities for domestic chains that could not previously find free space in the center, says company president Tikhon Smykov. He notes that we are not talking about global expansion, but the network will grow in the near future.

re:Store is facing a big challenge due to the fact that their exclusive partnership with Apple has ended, and they are finding it difficult to compete on the sales of this brand due to gray sellers, and pure price competition looks very difficult, says the CEO of Infoline-Analytics Mikhail Burmistrov. “The company has a strong brand, which we can try to expand with an umbrella to a wider range, add leading brands in their categories, but we see very active development of our own brands among marketplaces and online retailers (Ozon, network DNS),” he notes. Strategically, re:Store has chosen the right direction, the expert says, but they will be able to compete successfully only if they have scarce goods, and much depends on how quickly they can launch exclusive brands and private labels.