Ikea was a popular draw for Russians, who lined up at a real store in Moscow. The retailer has since closed its stores in Russia, but duplicates are popping up in their place — drawing Ikea’s attention.
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Good Luck, an Ikea copycat, joins the ranks of rebranded dupes of many western chains in Russia.
The real Ikea says it’s aware of duplicates — and says it could “take action” to protect its trademark.
A customer told the Moscow Times that the imitation Ikea didn’t measure up to the real thing.
Stars Coffee is the “new” Starbucks. McDonalds is now called Tasty and That’s It. Kentucky Fried Chicken has become Crimean Fried Chicken. And now, a store called Good Luck has opened in Moscow as an Ikea copycat.
The real Ikea is taking notice — and told Insider that it will take action, if necessary, to protect its trademark. “Ikea has nothing to do with Good Luck” and other copycats, it said.
Meanwhile, the list of stores mimicking popular western chains has continued to grow in Russia after companies like Starbucks, McDonalds, Ikea, and Zara have exited Russia, or sold their businesses in the country to new owners, following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The western companies — like Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC and Ikea — perhaps would rather the dupes didn’t exist at all. But with a Russian economy reeling from sanctions and some people there eager to stick it to the US and its allies, the copycats are mushrooming. Last year, when McD’s pulled out, the chain said operating in Russia wasn’t “consistent with McDonald’s values.”
Starbucks also left Russia after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. “Stars Coffee” is the copycat that popped up in its absence — leaning hard on Starbucks’ own logo.
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Good Luck is yet another Ikea copycat to open in Russia after Belarusian chain Swed House, which opened its first Russian store — another Ikea dupe — in April. Ikea told Insider it’s also aware of Swed House.
Ikea corporate “is looking into potential actions — and where appropriate takes action — to ensure that the IKEA trademark rights and copyrights will be and remain honored by businesses such as Good Luck and Swed House, both in physical stores and online,” the company said in a statement to Insider.
Like Swed House, which says it manufactures its Ikea-like products in the same factories that were once used by the Swedish company, Good Luck says it offers products made by the Russian and Belarusian former suppliers of Ikea. That couldn’t be confirmed by Insider.
The team behind Good Luck says it had worked on Ikea retail development in Russia, and many of the retail employees there had previously worked at Ikea before the company left the country, the Moscow Times reported.
“The departure of Ikea is not a reason to abandon the usual interior design,” Good Luck writes on its website.
“Thanks to the Good Luck project, right now you have the opportunity to buy those favorite goods. Yes, they have changed their appearance and names a bit. But design, quality, ease of purchase and ease of assembly — all this remains the same. And the names are now easier to pronounce and remember,” the company says on its website, taking a swipe at Ikea’s notoriously fun Swedish names.
McDonald’s also left Russia, and in its place is Tasty and That’s It, where a combo meal is pictured at one of its Moscow outlets.
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As hard as Good Luck is trying to replicate the Ikea experience, it seems the company is falling short: The space is far smaller than a typical Ikea — only about 3,200 square feet, when Ikea stores often span over 300,000 square feet — and there is no restaurant, which means Russian customers will simply have to keep waiting for a dupe of Ikea’s famous meatballs.
A shopper told the Moscow Times: “This is not Ikea — period.”
And right now, Good Luck also only sells living room and bedroom items, for the most part. There are no suppliers for bathroom and kitchen items yet, employees at the store told the Moscow Times.
Some of the decorating choices set the new store apart from Ikea, too. Soviet dictionaries line the shelves in a model living room, while Russian penmanship exercise books are displayed on a desk in a model children’s room.
Swed House, another Ikea copycat, had popped up before the latest Good Luck. Ikea says it’s keeping an eye on both to make sure they don’t violate its trademarks.
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Convincing Ikea dupe or not, Good Luck already has ambitious plans for expansion, it says.
On its website, the company says it will open over 1,000 retail outlets across Russia within three years.
On top of that, the company appears to be courting other furniture businesses that may want to get in on filling the Ikea void, offering the chance to become an official dealer of the Good Luck brand through a form on its website.
It seems like they’re looking for more than just good luck.