The first stores of the former Zara will open in Moscow on April 14

The first stores of the former brands of the Spanish Inditex will open in Moscow on April 14, two real estate consultants who worked with the company said. The Maag website (the new name of the Zara brand in Russia) says that on this day there will be an online presentation of a new clothing collection. One of the interlocutors of Vedomosti assures that the first point of this network will appear in the Aviapark shopping center on Khodynka field. The second adds that Maag’s flagship store will open on Kuznetsky Most, where the sign has already changed. In Aviapark, the issue of Vedomosti was forwarded to the retailer. They did not respond to a request.

In total, 20 Maag stores will open in Moscow. Another 13 outlets will operate under the Dub brand (ex-Pull&Bear). The new owner of the Russian business, Inditex, also registered the domains of the brands Ecru (formerly Bershka) and Vilet (ex-Stradivarius), but nothing is known about the number of stores of these brands. The networks themselves will likely be run by a company called Rmixed. At least it was she who posted 235 vacancies for sales assistants, administrators and directors of former Inditex stores on HeadHunter. In the ads themselves, Rmixed is named as a major international fashion retail company.

Taking into account the experience of other brands, it can be assumed that the restart of ex-Inditex chains will take 3-6 months, depending on the degree of readiness of the owner of the shopping centers, the stock of the collection, etc., says Evgenia Khakberdieva, regional director of the retail real estate department of NF Group.

Inditex is one of the world’s largest clothing and footwear retailers. In Russia, the group was represented by Zara, Pull & Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, Uterque stores, all of which closed in March 2022 due to the start of a special operation. At the end of October last year, it became known that Inditex agreed to sell the Russian business to the Middle East investment company Daher Group.

A government commission has agreed on a deal to sell assets to Fashion And More Management, a UAE free zone firm, it said. RBC with reference to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Evtukhov. As specified in the financial statements of the Spanish holding for 2022, Inditex will transfer to the new owner 245 of the 514 stores that the company managed in Russia. The remaining 269 outlets will be closed, the company confirmed to El Pais.