Yakov Panchenko will change everyone’s shoes from Adidas
In Saratov, as throughout Russia, stores are temporarily closed.
– The parties are already negotiating, and the only question is how this deal will be structured. The whole process is already at the final stage of discussion,” Pavel Lyulin, vice-president of the Union of Shopping Centers, told Izvestia.
He noted that sporting goods are not currently associated with Stockmann. And he believes that “it would be wise to launch a new brand so that people would develop recognition of a fresh name.”
– Now the parties have plans to launch a new sports brand. I think that it will start working on the basis of Adidas stores: the range of this brand will be presented in retail outlets,” the expert explained.
Mr. Lyulin predicts with a high degree of probability that, despite the short amount of time, the chain’s stores will open before the end of the year. As a rule, in such cases, the brand is launched in the main locations, for example, the Moscow shopping centers “Aviapark”, “European” and “Atrium”.
Previously, Adidas operated about 100 stores in the Russian Federation, but the company closed some of them. Judging by the Google map, four brand stores are now temporarily closed in Saratov, including two discounters.
In the summer, the Mash telegram channel reported that the retailer allegedly signed a contract with the management company Daher Group, which bought the Russian part of the business of the Inditex group (Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Oysho, Bershka, Stradivarius and other brands). And retail outlets should be launched by November 1.
The German brand Adidas, following other foreign brands, announced the suspension of work in the Russian Federation and the temporary closure of stores in March 2022. On October 31, it became known that the company began to abandon some of its retail outlets. On November 9, the American company Nasdaq reported that the manufacturer lost €100 million in revenue in the third quarter of last year due to the suspension of business in the Russian Federation.
Last December, Mr. Panchenko bought from the Luxembourg company Global Fashion Group (GFG) an online platform for selling fashion products Lamoda in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The transaction amount was €95 million “in addition to the value of cash held in the Lamoda business as at 30 September 2022.”
According to experts, the fair value of the online retailer’s business could be at least €500 million. Lamoda’s turnover in Russia in the first half of 2022 increased by 44.2%, to 47.3 billion rubles.
In August, the media reported that Lamoda will replace Adidas: the online retailer will open 300 stores of sportswear and shoes, some of the outlets will be located on the site of closed stores of the sports brand chain.
