According to Reuters, many Nike stores in Russia were open on Friday afternoon, more than a week after the world’s largest sports retailer announced it was temporarily closing all of its stores in the country.
Nike, based in Beaverton, Oregon, stated that the open stores are owned and operated by independent partners, and that it will soon update its online store locator to reflect Nike’s closed owned-and-operated stores.
An employee at one of six Moscow stores reached by phone said: “We don’t have information yet, but I think the store will be open for at least, like, a month.”
Nike announced on March 3 that it would close all of its stores in Russia, joining several other Western brands in doing so in the aftermath of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the store directory on Nike’s website, the Russian Federation has approximately 100 stores, all of which are “open.”
A Nike employee at the retailer’s Russian headquarters told Reuters that many of its stores remained open. However, the employee stated that Nike Factory Stores had been temporarily closed.
Nike made merchandise purchases on its website and app unavailable in Russia days before its announcement that stores would be temporarily closed, instead directing customers to brick-and-mortar stores. The company provides consistency.
Source: Reuters
