JYSK leaving Russia, will shut all stores for good after selling stock

MOSCOW. March 30 (Interfax) - Danish furniture and home goods retailer and IKEA rival JYSK, which temporarily closed its stores in Russia earlier in March, has decided to leave the Russian market, the retailer said in a statement.

"After four weeks of temporary closure of JYSK's stores in Russia, it is now clear that JYSK will close permanently and leave Russia completely," the statement said.

The retailer closed its Russian stores and suspended online sales in Russia until further notice on March 3.

"As of March 31, the JYSK stores in Russia will reopen temporarily to carry out a discontinuation sale to empty stores. Once the products in the stores have been sold, the stores will be closed permanently," the statement said. The company will contact the owners of sites where JYSK stores are located to agree on a fair settlement and will pay employees in accordance with local legislation, it said.

"We came to Russia with the intention of providing a great offer to the Russian population, and we had a great start [...]. However, in the current situation, the management team and our owners do not see any alternative to closing our operations in Russia," President and CEO of JYSK Jan Bogh was quoted as saying in the statement.

"No one in the management team feels good about this situation. Me included. However, I have no doubt that this is the right thing to do. I want to thank all of our Russian colleagues for their efforts, and I wish them the best of luck in the years to come," Bogh said.

JYSK opened its first store in Russia in Moscow in June 2020. The network currently comprises 13 stores. JYSK planned to grow this to 200 over 10-15 years, making Russia one of its top five countries by network size.