A Lebanese clothing brand called Maag has taken over a flagship store site in Moscow that had been vacated by Spanish brand Zara when it ceased operations in Russia. Zara, and other brands owned by the same company, sold their shop sites to a Russian business after withdrawing from the country.
ADVERTISEMENTThe former Zara flagship store in central Moscow opened on Wednesday under the Maag brand owned by Lebanese retail and real estate conglomerate Daher Group.
Over 60 Maag stores are expected to open in shopping centres across the country in the coming days.
Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said earlier that clothing stores of the Inditex group, the owner of Zara, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti and other retail chains, would open under new names - Maag, Dub, Ecru, and Vilet.
Inditex halted its business in Russia on March 2022, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military operation in Ukraine at the end of February.
Following other western brands, the fashion retailer closed its 502 shops and stopped online sales.
In October, Inditex sold its Russian business to Daher Group marking the end of its business in Russia.
However, the retailer said it would consider returning through a franchise collaboration with Daher if market circumstances changed.
