Since the beginning of 2026, more new foreign brands have entered St. Petersburg shopping centers than the previous year.

According to NF GROUP analysts, the share of foreign brands in St. Petersburg shopping centers fell from 12,3% to 11,1% in the first half of 2026. International retailers reduced their occupied space by 9,3 square meters, and nine brands completely vacated their premises and are no longer represented in the city's shopping centers.

At the same time, the market continues to expand with new and returning foreign brands. In the first six months of 2026, four foreign brands, previously unavailable in the city or returning after closures, opened stores in St. Petersburg shopping centers. By comparison, three new brands entered the market during the same period in 2025.

Among the openings in the first half of 2026 are the Belarusian home goods store "Da Domu" in the Mega Parnas shopping center, the German women's clothing brand Frapp in the Akadem-Park shopping center, the Vietnamese children's goods brand Gustavo Gano in the Mega Dybenko and Grand Canyon shopping centers, and the German fashion brand s.Oliver, which returned to St. Petersburg after closing in 2023 and opened a store in Outlet Village Pulkovo. However, these openings should not be considered a full-fledged wave of direct entry by international operators: some brands were already present in Russia or were available through multi-brand channels and online, while new stores are mostly being developed through local partners, distributors, or within separate retail platforms.

Evgeniya Khakberdieva, Regional Director of the Retail Real Estate Department at NF GROUP: "The current openings don't signal a mass return of international chains to the Russian market. In most cases, we're talking about targeted launches through local partners and distributors, the development of brands already represented in Russia, or a return in specific formats. For example, "Da Domu" is being developed as part of the Mega portfolio, and s.Oliver was available in the city through multi-brand channels and online, so its opening can't be considered a direct new entry for an international operator."

At the federal level, the activity of new foreign brands also remains limited: according to NF GROUP, only one new foreign brand entered the Russian market in the first six months of 2026, part of the multi-brand Sportmaster portfolio. Against this backdrop, St. Petersburg continues to attract some interest from individual international brands, but the overall market balance remains negative.

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Since the beginning of 2022, 36 new foreign brands have opened in St. Petersburg shopping centers. By the end of the first half of 2026, nine of them had already ceased operations and were no longer represented in the city.

Also leaving the market in the first half of 2026 were Balizza, Crown Jeans, LumberJack, BergHOFF, Giovanni Botticelli, T. Bert, Pentik, Mo, and the Canadian ALDO, which operated under the name Mysa after its 2022 rebranding. Furthermore, several international brands, including CR, XC, and RE, reduced their store count.

Evgeniya Khakberdieva: "Although the scale of foreign retailers' exit is no longer comparable to that of 2022, the process of reducing their presence in St. Petersburg shopping centers continues. The main reasons include declining purchasing power, as well as the not-always-successful adaptation of new brands to the Russian market: under the "silence" regime, brands find it more difficult to communicate with their audiences and utilize traditional mass promotion tools."