On the shop window of VkusVill in the Amsterdam Ferdinand Bolstraat is a large, red sign with ‘shop space for rent’. Inside it is dark and deserted, although the shelves are still half filled with pots. In the other Amsterdam branch of this Russian supermarket, on Kinkerstraat, about ten employees are drinking to-go coffee while the store is cleared out. Empty racks and boxes block access.
The Russian supermarket chain VkusVill closes its four Dutch branches. This is the result of the financial sanctions that the West imposed on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, according to the Dutch website. “Because we as a Dutch BV have a Russian investor, it is no longer possible to continue to exist in the long term.”
The chain has approximately 1,300 branches in Russia and wanted to expand in Europe, with the Netherlands as the starting point. Little of those ambitions had come to fruition. This weekend all products were sold for half the price, payment was only possible in cash.
doubt
Other Russian-language shops in the Netherlands are also confronted with the consequences of the war in Ukraine. In Priwet Rossia, on the Vijzelstraat in Amsterdam, a brick was thrown through the window last week. The perpetrator has been threatening the Armenian owners for some time because of the Russian name, says owner Ira Badaljan. Despite the smashed window, the owners feel supported by the neighborhood. “Many people have come to bring flowers.”
Although Priwet Rossia means ‘Hello Russia’, the store is not exclusively Russian. In fact, Badaljan says, only one or two products come from Russia. “We sell stuff from all over the Eastern Bloc, in total from about fifteen countries.”
The store has been around for eleven years, but Badaljan and her husband only took over in February. “It was a well-known store, so we wanted to keep the name. Now we have doubts.” NRC is not the only newspaper entering the store these days. “I’ve talked so much to the press. Actually, I’m done with it. Anyway, what do you want to know?”
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The store has no problems with the supply, because of the diverse range. Apart from some products from Ukraine and Russia, such as buckwheat and certain types of chocolate, everything can still be imported. Many of the products are produced in Germany or the Czech Republic. “If we were dependent on Russia, our shelves would be empty long ago.” Now the refrigerated display case is full of sausage, stacked with chocolate on top, and countless other foodstuffs on the shelves along the wall.
Uncertain future
The shelves in the MiniMix supermarket in Amsterdam-West are also still stocked with products from Eastern Europe. Before the invasion of Ukraine, this also included Russian products, which made up about 5 percent of the range. Now foods from Russia are no longer for sale in the MiniMix. “That’s because of the sanctions,” says the owner, who is also Armenian. He doesn’t want his name in the paper.
In the middle of the store is a strip of wall strewn with advertisements in the Cyrillic alphabet, from room seekers to offers of cleaning services. The shop is definitely not Russian, the owner emphasizes. “We sell Eastern European products, for example from Poland, Romania and the Baltic States. That does not make us a Russian store.”
Moreover, he sells Ukrainian products in much larger numbers: more than half of the offer in the MiniMix comes from there. Ukrainian food items are still on the shelves because the owner buys these products in Germany, where they are stored in a warehouse. Whether that will still be the case in a few weeks or months, the owner does not dare to say. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to get Ukrainian products in the future. The future is uncertain. If purchasing really becomes impossible, that is very annoying for the store.”
The same says Aleks Tsjavdroek of supermarket Moskva in Hilversum. “Half of my range consists of Ukrainian and Russian products. We probably won’t get that anymore.” He is not afraid of empty shelves. “We will order more from Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary.”
His shop has a Russian name, but Chavdruk himself is from Ukraine. He also once took over the store by name. “I’m not going to change that, it’s authentic.” On Monday, Chavdruk welcomed about 25 Ukrainian refugees into his shop, providing them with “stuff they are used to”. Part was paid for by a charity, another part he gave away for free.
Other stores do not want to respond to questions from NRC† Also VkusVill, which was still questions from the trade magazine last week Retail trends wanted to answer, now refuses. According to manager Thera van Heuveln, the supermarket has “other priorities”. Her colleague Renata Sadekova says the company “does not give any comment to the press”.
That message also arrived at the branch in the Kinkerstraat in Amsterdam. With the slogan ‘no comment’, the employees firmly point to the door.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of March 15, 2022