Here’s a photo of the actual store for a local Krasnodar branch of a national Apple licensed reseller called re:Store. The store is located inside of the mall Krasnaya Ploshad (trans: “Red Square”). When driving up to the mall, stay right, pass the McDonald’s drive-through window on your left, and park behind the mall. The store is just inside the entrance on your left and is next to Maria Rafaela. Click the link above for directions and the website.
The staff, like at most Apple stores, are young, knowledgeable, and friendly. The store has almost the same feel as do Apple stores in the US and as far as I could tell, it had almost the same selection of inventory.
All the hardware is compatible with the Russian electrical outlets and the keyboards all have permanent Cyrillic characters on each key.
BTW- the Apple brand is one of the hottest in Russia currently. It has not yet hit the mainstream consciousness but amongst the early adopters it is gaining market share quickly. I am often seeing Apple hardware used in advertising photos in the glossy Russian magazines. It seems that if you want to convey cool sophistication in Russia stick a MacBook laptop in front of the model. I have to admit, it does warm my heart every time I see someone using an Apple laptop in a cafe. Who would’ve thunk it 10 years ago?
Apple would be well advised to open a flagship store in Moscow. Perhaps at the Crocus City Mall on the Ring Road near Sheremetievo Airport.
re:Store is a national chain of Apple-licensed shops. The company has stores in nine Russian cities currently. re:Store is an example of the type of young retail chain popping-up throughout Russia today. While there is certainly a lot of action in natural resources and public equity markets, there is also a big opportunity for a private equity fund to invest in the regional chains. The capital invested will help these regional chains grow much more quickly. Currently, most of these companies are growing organically through reinvested profits and through bank debt.
While the scale of these investments is not so large the potential for growth is huge. I remember back in 1997, when Nordberg Capital visited Krasnodar to meet with Sergei Galitsky at Tander/Magnit which at the time was doing less than 100 million in annual revenues. They had an opportunity to invest but they wanted too much equity for the capital they were offering. Can you imagine their disappointment when in May of 2006, Tander/Magnit went public with a valuation of over $3 BILLION dollars?
My point is not to disparage Nordberg Capital which has proven itself quite astute with its numerous investments in both the Russian and Nordic telecommunications markets. Hell, in 1997, who knew what the future held. The point is just that the current crop of opportunities in Russia are not lacking in number, just in scale.
Obviously, most of these regional chains don’t have that kind of growth potential as did Tander/Magnit in 1997. However, based on a recent IPO of Rostiks Restaurants at a valuation of over $300 million, I think a private equity funds should not dismiss these regional opportunities. I will write about a number of these regional chains in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.
