Russian shoppers queue for H&M as retailer prepares to shut down its Moscow store

Snaking through a Moscow shopping center, shoppers wait to buy their last items from H&M before the retailer closes its Russian stores.

Brands including H&M, Ikea and Nike had suspended operations in the country, but H&M reopened to sell off its goods before leaving the Russian market for good, costing the company nearly £170million.

Customer Ekaterina said: ‘The reason why this is happening is awful. Everything else is meaningless, like how we are going to manage [without H&M].’

Russian shoppers wait to buy their last items from H&M in a Moscow shopping center before the retailer closes its Russian stores

‘The reason why this is happening is awful. Everything else is meaningless, like how we are going to manage [without H&M],’ a customer said. Pictured left: A customer at the closing H&M in Moscow. Pictured right: Shoppers stand in line to the entrance of the H&M store

‘Well, it is closing, that’s why we are standing here,’ another customer, Irina, told Reuters. ‘I’m going to buy whatever there is.’

Furniture giant IKEA has reopened for an online-only sale, but H&M opted to allow customers back in person.

Exiting Russia, H&M’s sixth-biggest market, is expected to cost the company almost $200 million and affect 6,000 staff.

Exiting Russia, H&M’s sixth-biggest market, is expected to cost the company almost $200 million (around £165m) and affect 6,000 staff

H&M did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A company spokesperson in July said H&M would temporarily reopen physical stores in August to sell the remaining inventory in Russia.

H&M, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, rents its 170 physical stores in the country and operates them directly.