Zara, Bershka And Other Brands To Return To Russia Under New Names: Reports

Several brands are set to reopen their stores in Russia under different names amid the war in Ukraine, according to reports.

Bershka, a worldwide clothing retailer and product of Zara's parent brand, Inditex, is set to reopen its stores in Russia between April and May under the brand name Ecru, state-owned news agency TASS reported, citing Olga Antonona, head of retail real estate at consulting firm CMWP, as translated via Google Translate.

Other stores under the Inditex group, specifically Zara and Pull & Bear, are also set to reopen stores in the country. The brands will reopen under the names Maag and DUB, respectively, as per the Telegram channel Mash.

The Inditex group initially suspended its trading operations in Russia in March 2022, closing more than 500 shops and stopping its online sales. "In the current circumstances, Inditex cannot guarantee the continuity of the operations and commercial conditions in the Russian Federation and temporarily suspends its activity," the company said in a statement at the time.

Seven months later, in October, Inditex announced that it reached an "initial agreement" to sell its stores in Russia to Daher group, a UAE-based company with links to Lebanese retail company Azadea, Bloomberg reported.

News on Bershka, Pull & Bear and Zara resuming operations in Russia under new names was first reported by Forbes Russia in October 2022. The group's sales in Russia generate 8.5% of the company's global profit. The pullout meant the company could have lost about $300 million.

More than 1,000 companies have pulled out of Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, as per the Yale School of Management. Hundreds of Western businesses, however, have continued operations in the country, including blue-chip and midsize companies from Europe and the United States.

Some companies have also been accused of helping finance Russia's war after refusing to leave, including Auchan, one of France's largest supermarket chains. Le Monde, in partnership with the Bellingcat network and Russian investigative website The Insider, reported that Auchan's Russian subsidiary was supplying goods to the Russian military.

The company denied the reporting in a statement that has since been deleted from its website.