US sportswear maker Nike announced on Wednesday the suspension of sales at partner stores in Russia and the ending of all partnerships with retailers in the country, two months after temporarily closing its own stores.
The Beaverton (Oregon) group justified this decision by ‘operational difficulties in Russia’.
According to the Russian daily Vedomosti, the distribution agreements that linked Nike to its two main commercial partners in Russia expire on Thursday, in particular with the Inventive Retail Group (IRG), which manages the chain of dedicated Up & Run stores.
The equipment manufacturer ‘has taken the decision not to renew commercial agreements or to establish new ones, including with our franchisee Up & Run’, according to a message sent by Nike to AFP.
The comma group said that “its activities remained suspended” in Russia and that it continued to pay its employees.
Nike’s announcement means that the brand is suspending sales of its products in all dedicated stores, that is to say, which only carry its products.
Always available
“In the current situation, we cannot continue to support the activities of mono-brand stores and will have to close them,” an IRG spokeswoman told AFP.
According to its site, IRG operated 37 stores selling Nike products.
However, according to Vedomosti, it will still be possible to buy items from the American equipment manufacturer through multi-brand stores, which are supplied by wholesalers.
Asked for confirmation, Nike did not respond immediately.
At the beginning of March, a few days after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Nike had announced the temporary closure of all its directly managed branches in Russia, i.e. 116 stores.
/ATS