The Adidas sports brand has returned to Kharkiv after a four-year hiatus; a discount store has opened at 199 Heroiv Kharkiva Street, according to a post on LinkedIn by Igor Marinich, CEO of Adidas Ukraine.
“After four years in a ‘frozen’ state since the start of the full-scale war, we are once again opening our doors to all our customers and athletes in our wonderful, athletic, incredibly brave, and Ukrainian city of heroes—Kharkiv!” he wrote.
Marinich also emphasized that the safety of employees and customers remains a key priority for the company.
As reported, in February 2024, Adidas closed all its retail locations in Ukraine due to the security situation, but began restoring the network’s operations as early as July 2022. In Kharkiv, the brand’s stores had previously also operated in the “Karavan” and “Dafi” shopping centers.
In Ukraine, the chain is managed by the state-owned enterprise “Adidas-Ukraine,” which is owned by Adidas AG. According to OpenDataBot, by the end of 2025, the company increased its revenue by 28% to 2,996,893,000 UAH, while net profit halved to 43.310 million UAH in 2025 compared to 94.205 million UAH in 2024.
The U.S., China, and Germany remain the world’s most valuable country brands, according to data from Brand Finance’s annual study.
The company valued the U.S. brand at nearly $34.72 trillion, down 7% from last year’s level. The assessment covers a wide range of indicators, including GDP, investment and tourism appeal, policy and trade regulations, social aspects, and more.
At the same time, the value of the PRC’s brand increased by 7% (to $22.02 trillion), narrowing the gap with the top spot.
Germany ranks third, far behind (-8%, to $4.61 trillion), and the United Kingdom ranks fourth (-5%, to $4.23 trillion).
France moved up to fifth place (-7%, to $3.63 trillion), pushing Japan (-14%, to $3.62 trillion) down to sixth place. Canada (-12%, to $2.41 trillion) moved up to seventh place from eighth last year, Italy (-4%, to $2.3 trillion) to eighth from ninth, and Spain (-4%, to $2.12 trillion) to ninth from tenth.
India fell to tenth place from seventh (-30%, to $1.94 trillion).
The total value of G7 countries’ brands fell by $4.5 trillion over the year due to geopolitical tensions, tariffs, and economic uncertainty.
“The weakening of the Western alliance’s cohesion, combined with persistent inflationary pressures and high energy prices, contributed to a deterioration in sentiment toward a number of major economic powers,” the report notes.
According to a Brand Finance study, Russia, whose brand value fell by 11%, dropped to 25th place from 23rd last year; Kazakhstan (-26%) fell to 45th from 43rd; Uzbekistan dropped to 53rd from 55th; Azerbaijan fell to 74th from 82nd; Belarus – to 86th from 88th place, Turkmenistan – to 87th from 80th place, Georgia – to 91st from 97th place, Armenia – to 105th from 103rd place, and Kyrgyzstan – to 120th from 127th place. Tajikistan remained in 136th place.
Among the top 100 countries, Egypt fell significantly in the ranking—to 51st place from 35th a year earlier; Iran—to 63rd from 50th; Kenya—to 90th from 70th; and Angola—to 94th from 76th. Meanwhile, Costa Rica jumped to 70th place from 81st, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to 72nd from 87th, and Iceland to 80th from 90th.
In total, the ranking includes 192 countries. The total brand value of these countries decreased by 6% over the past year.
Ukrainian brand Sleeper is opening its first store in Kyiv, the company announced.
According to the brand’s social media pages, the boutique at 3 Rylskyi Lane is scheduled to open on Kyiv Day, May 31.
“This boutique expands the Sleeper ethos: each piece is made from start to finish in 6–12 hours by a single tailor, honoring the legacy of Kyiv’s light industry schools,” the brand announced on Facebook.
Sleeper, a premium-quality women’s clothing brand, was founded in Kyiv in 2014 by Katya Zubareva and Asya Varetsa, starting with a collection of everyday pajamas.
The Gulliver shopping center has officially announced the reopening of stores belonging to one of the world’s leading fashion retailers. Starting today, key brands of the Inditex group—Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Oysho, and Zara Home—are once again available to visitors.
The return of these brands is an important step toward restoring the shopping and entertainment center’s full-fledged fashion offering. For visitors, this means the return of familiar and beloved stores to a well-known location in the heart of the capital.
The resumption of cooperation with international retailers became possible after the property’s legal status was stabilized. Since July 2025, the shopping and entertainment center has been owned by Oschadbank and Ukreximbank due to the previous owner’s failure to meet its credit obligations. In October 2025, the court lifted the seizure of the property, after which the complex came under the management of state-owned banks.
“The reopening of Inditex stores at Gulliver is a clear indicator of confidence in the new landlord. Transparency of ownership and predictability of terms are key factors for global business. Today, we provide exactly these conditions, and it is paying off. We are pleased to see that world-class brands are betting on Gulliver and Kyiv shoppers,” said Arsen Milyutin, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank, responsible for NPL operations.
The Inditex Group is a leading global Spanish fashion retailer and one of the world’s largest fashion manufacturers and distributors, managing brands such as Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara, and Zara Home.
The Bila Romashka pharmacy chain (part of Fozzy Group) opened its first wellness space in the village of Lisnyky near Kyiv on Thursday, the company’s press service reported.
“We have created an offline space that differs from a regular pharmacy or cosmetics store with a special assortment that previously could only be ordered online,” explained Natalia Smaglyuk, CEO of the Bila Romashka chain, whose words are quoted in the release.
The new Bila Romashka space is an offline store for health and beauty products with a wide selection of certified dietary supplements, vitamins, CBD, natural skincare cosmetics, hygiene products, and balanced nutrition products. Currently, the assortment includes almost 2,000 items from 43 brands from the US, France, Korea, Spain, Greece, and Ukraine. Among them are Thorne, Solaray, Nature’s Way, Apivita, Weleda, Now, VVBETTER, Dr. Althea, Panfruit, The Elements, and others. The store will also exclusively feature products from the Ukrainian brand Vitalis Balance. The entire range has been carefully selected by specialists with pharmaceutical expertise.
A consultant will work alongside the pharmacist in the store.
The Bila Romashka pharmacy chain (Fozzy Farm LLC) was established in 2001 and is part of the Fozzy Group. Currently, the chain has 95 pharmacies and one wellness space in 47 locations across Ukraine.
According to YouControl, at the end of the third quarter of 2025, the company received a net income of UAH 1.1 billion, which is 25% higher than in the same period last year, and its net loss amounted to UAH 110 million 567 thousand against UAH 61 million 708 thousand in the third quarter of 2024.
On November 13, 2025, the first meeting of the Council of Ministers of Trade and Investment of Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan was held in Tashkent.
The event was aimed at strengthening practical cooperation between the countries of the region in the areas of trade, investment, and industrial cooperation, as well as implementing joint initiatives to increase mutual trade and create cooperative production facilities.
Particular attention was paid to the creation of working tools to increase trade turnover between the countries of the region to $20 billion, the formation of joint production sites under the “Made in Central Asia” brand, as well as the involvement of international financial institutions and large investors in the implementation of joint infrastructure and industrial projects.
It was noted that mutual trade between Uzbekistan and the countries of Central Asia is showing steady positive dynamics. While trade turnover amounted to $3.2 billion in 2017, by 2024 it had more than doubled, reaching $6.9 billion. In particular, trade turnover with Kazakhstan is approaching $4 billion, with Kyrgyzstan — $700 million, with Tajikistan — exceeding $570 million, and with Turkmenistan — more than doubling over the past five years to $1.15 billion. Trade with Azerbaijan has also shown significant growth, up 13% since the beginning of the year.
During the meeting, the need for further optimization of customs and border procedures, synchronization of transport and logistics infrastructure, and the creation of industrial hubs capable of uniting the production chains of the countries in the region was also emphasized. Particular attention was paid to issues of industrial cooperation, joint development of raw material and technological potential, and the development of exports of finished products with high added value.
Following the meeting, a joint communiqué was signed, setting out key agreements on deepening economic cooperation, developing cooperation and joint production, and creating new mechanisms for investment interaction.
