Starbucks replacement in Russia sparks ridicule: 'Genuinely lame'
Russia's replacement for Starbucks Coffee has been ridiculed after its branding revealed to be strikingly similar to that of the global coffee brand.
Starbucks was one of the major companies including McDonald's to shut up shop in Russia after President Vladimir Putin sent troops across the border to invade Ukraine.
And while Russians were sad to see the popular brand leave the country, their disappointment didn't last long with a near-identical offering returning in Moscow this week.
Stars Coffee formally opened on Friday with a logo that still featured the iconic Starbucks mermaid, yet instead of a crown on top of her head, she features with a Russian headdress called a kokoshnik.
The menu and app for the company was also similar to Starbucks, the Associated Press reported.
Starbucks Coffee has declined to comment on the launch of the new brand.
The new company has been launched by a Yunus Yusupov and Anton Pinsky, a Russian rap artist and restaurateur respectively.
Addressing media on Thursday, they vowed to reopen all of Starbucks' 130 stores.
Yusupov said they had aimed for some continuity with the new branding.
"This is a time of opportunity,” Oleg Eskindarov, president of the holding company that partnered in the Starbucks deal, told the state news agency Tass.
Western world reacts to opening
The chain's launch raised eyebrows, which was described by one Twitter user as the "communist version" of Starbucks.
"Cheap copy," another claimed.
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"Genuinely lame," one person called the new branding.
"They can’t make anything on their own. There’s no entrepreneurial or creative spirit," one person said.
The popularity of Western-style consumer culture had grown in Russia in recent decades, meaning the removal of major Western brands such as Ikea has proven a blow to millions.
However Russian entrepreneurs are now seizing the opportunity to fill their void with similar offerings.
With AP
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