The claim

OBI branches are apparently opening again in Russia, which is surprising since the hardware store chain withdrew from Russia.

Our conclusion

OBI gave the branches away to an investor weeks ago. The branches are renamed, OBI no longer has anything to do with it.

Due to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, several retail chains and brands have withdrawn from Russia. The official reason for this in Russia is “delivery difficulties”. Now OBI markets are supposed to be reopened in Russia, but OBI itself has nothing to do with it!

In particular a tweet from “Nexta” reporting on the reopening on May 11th caused displeasure:

Many people only pay attention to the first sentence of the tweet, namely that the first OBI store in Moscow is open again - at least that's what it says on the company's website. Much more important is the second sentence in the tweet, which indicates how things really are: The markets are being renamed!

The markets no longer belong to OBI!

If you take a look at the Russian page of OBI (see HERE ), you can still find the OBI logo there, but also an important note:

MIMIKAMA
An important note on the Russian OBI site

“The use of the OBI brand is temporary and the company will gradually reintroduce the hypermarkets under the new brand.”

In mid-April, several media outlets that the Tengelmann Group forestalled the threat of expropriation of its hardware store subsidiary OBI in Russia: They literally gave away their 27 branches to an unnamed investor. This was preceded by the fact that OBI had already closed the branches, but the Russian managers simply reopened the stores, whereupon OBI separated the cash registers from the servers.

It wouldn't have made a direct difference if OBI had been expropriated or if they had given away their branches to an investor, but of course it would shed a better light on the hardware store chain if they voluntarily gave up the branches (but stated as a condition that the name changed) rather than being forcibly taken away from them and then they no longer even have any influence on the name.

The hardware store chain's LinkedIn page also makes it clear that OBI Group Holding no longer has anything to do with the stores that are reopening in Russia:

OBI no longer has anything to do with the branches
OBI no longer has anything to do with the branches, source: LinkedIn

“We are currently learning from various media and social media that the OBI stores in Russia are to be reopened. As already announced on March 7, 2022, all OBI markets in Russia were closed and the legal entities were transferred (see statement from April 13, 2022). This is on the condition that the OBI brand will no longer be used in Russia. We would therefore like to point out once again and make it clear that the OBI Group is not and will not be active in Russia either directly or indirectly after the transaction. Any information to the contrary can only be propaganda and external actions from Russia, over which we as the OBI Group unfortunately have no influence.”

And in fact, Russian media proudly report that many brands are available in Russia again and point out only very indirectly or not at all that it is not a question of “delivery problems” but that OBI and other brands have simply withdrawn from Russia and the branches now belong to other investors.

Conclusion

It is true that branches that still bear the name “OBI” are opening again in Russia, but these branches no longer have anything to do with the Tengelmann subsidiary. It is also noted on the website that the branches will be renamed - which was also the group's condition for donating the branches to an investor.

Also interesting:

Russian soldiers allegedly found a monster worm during the capture of the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine.
But the photo is not real! No, Russians didn't find a monster worm in Chernobyl!


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )