In July, 2022 the LEGO Group announced it would be pulling out of Russia altogether and terminated its partnership with Inventive Retail Group, the company that ran its stores in the country.Although a total of 81 LEGO Stores in Russia were closed, Reuters is reporting that IRG is now planning to reopen as many as 65 locations across 20 cities, replacing them with Mir Kubikov, or World of Cubes shops.“We have taken steps to increase visibility and control over any potential resale activity by our existing customers outside of Russia, including adding additional clauses to retailers’ contracts.”IRG has stated that its own World of Cubes shops have already started opening and that a full chain of stores would be up and running in the country by the end of October.These have included McDonald’s, reopened as ‘Tasty and that’s it’, and Starbucks, with Stars Coffee shops appearing in their place.Getting rid of Western franchises and replacing them with national ones, will give massive benefits to local manufacturing and reduces obesity…Shouldn’t we be punishing Russia for attacks rather then helping them like this?"