The success story of the legendary chain began a little over ten years ago. It is not entirely clear how the founders came up with the name Arbat Prestige. After all, the first store appeared on the outskirts of the industrial district of Ochakovo. And in his visit, especially in the evening, there was more dangerous than prestigious, and before the Arbat at that moment it was like before the moon.
Officially, the company traces its history back to August 1998, but in fact it all started a little earlier. At the beginning, the store was a small wholesale perfumery supermarket, it existed semi-legally, did not even have a sign, information about it was passed from mouth to mouth, and at the entrance they demanded to show a passport.
Ordinary buyers found themselves in this cosmetic paradise by accident or “by acquaintance” and at first they even got a little lost from the unprecedented abundance. It is not surprising if you remember that the main source of perfumery in those days were tents in the passage to Pushkinskaya, the owners of which, by the way, were among the first buyers of Arbat Prestige.
Gradually, the “legalization” of the network took place, the popularity grew every year, along with the number of stores (in 2007 there were already 98 of them throughout Russia). For several years, “Arbat Prestige”, without a doubt, was the main source of cosmetic joy for customers, but gradually competitors began to replace the network, rumors appeared about fake cosmetics made in Poland and in the near Moscow region, and in January last year, the owner Vladimir Nekrasov and at all on an especially large scale.
Here is such a sad ending to a success story that lasted a little over ten years. However, the Arbat Prestige trademark remains the property of the chain, so it is likely that after a while the store will experience a rebirth.