I'm Leavin' It

Before the invasion of Ukraine forced McDonald's to exit Russia, the company won millions of people over to American fast food, revolutionized the country's supply chain and changed Russian enterprise for good

- Clint Rainey

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.

Thanks to Covid-19, construction dragged into 2022, finishing in February—just in time for Russia to invade Ukraine. The following month, McDonald’s suspended operations in Russia, and by May it had exited the market entirely, selling all of its assets there to Alexander Govor, a mining oligarch. The Pushkin Square restaurant is now a gleaming new Vkusno—i Tochka (“Tasty— Period”) that slings Big Specials under a vaguely familiar orangy M.