Russian shoppers swarm Ikea stores to stock up ahead of closures

• Ikea said this week that it will close all its 17 stores in Russia because of the conflict.
• Russian shoppers rushed to the stores to stock up on products.

Shoppers flocked to Ikea's Russia stores this week after the budget flat-packed furniture chain announced that it would temporarily close all of its outlets in the country due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

In a statement shared with multiple news organizations, the company said it was closing stores to support the safety of its workers and as a result of the conflict causing major issues to its supply chain.

Photos and videos shared on social media taken by local photographers showed long lines outside some of the 17 stores Ikea operates in Russia. The stores closed on Thursday.

According to local journalists who photographed the scenes inside and outside Ikea stores in Moscow, staff at the stores were advising customers to leave the lines because it was impossible to serve them all before closing time.

But shoppers reportedly persevered and continued to wait in line.

Ikea is among a number of major US and European companies who are either temporarily halting their operations in Russia due to the conflict, or pulling out of the country entirely.

Apple, Nike, H&M, Disney, and Warner Bros are among the other companies limiting or ceasing services there. Oil companies BP and Shell both divested their 20% stakes in Rosneft, Russia's state-backed energy giant, in protest at the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Experts say that foreign retailers who continue to operate in Russia will find it increasingly challenging to stock their stores or distribution centers as leading freight and shipping companies such as Maersk, FedEx, UPS, and DHL have stopped delivering to the country.

A spokesman for Germany's federal logistics association, DSLV, told Bloomberg that while deliveries are still being made by road, the number of companies doing so is rapidly diminishing.