Customer at McDonald’s Moscow flagship restaurant in 1992.
Photographer: Martin Parr/MagnumHow McDonald’s Won Russia—and Then Lost It All
For 30 years the fast-food icon turned meat, bread and potatoes into a display of capitalism that changed the way the country did business. Then Putin invaded Ukraine.
Not long ago, McDonald’s flagship restaurant in Moscow completed a truly ill-timed remodeling. A powerful brand symbol and tourist draw, Russia’s first location and for many years the world’s busiest, the store opened in busy Pushkin Square in 1990, when the plaza was still Soviet. The flagship stayed resolutely Golden Arch-y for decades, until the company announced in 2020 that it would be modernized to commemorate its 30th anniversary.
The new look was supposed to evince “recognizable neutrality,” according to the designers. The red and yellow interior accents came down; in their place appeared earth-toned concrete, stainless steel and wood. The pièce de résistance was the new facade, intended to blend McDonald’s and Moscow into “a single space” visually, with a two-story wall of mirrored glass that reflected the square’s activity back to passersby.