On TV, our president talks about supporting small and medium businesses, but in reality it turns out that all small businesses are being killed in the bud. Sobyanin decided to play big, if you want to sell shirts or cigarettes, build a hypermarket.
On June 1, the fourth mobilization began, the liquidation of kiosks in Moscow crossings. On my way down I saw something like this...

As I drove to work, I thought. After all, on the one hand, small businesses are really being killed, where will thousands of these people go to work now?
Few people know how much it costs to rent a tent now. And rent is not cheap now, as always, everything depends on the area, for example, on Tverskaya - 300 thousand per month, on Akademicheskaya 170 thousand, if you rent on Sadovod - then outdoor tent will cost you 400 thousand, and on Cherkizovsky 230.

About five or seven years ago, in the transition for six months it was possible to earn money for an apartment in Moscow. Daily revenue reached 30 thousand rubles, they worked "in five directions", that is, with a mark-up of 500%, but now if the revenue is only 1.5 thousand rubles. a day is already good, but who wants to work at 0? The time of big earnings in transitions has passed, and the problem is not only in the drop in demand.

The most demanded goods in the passages are clothes in the Cherkizon style. The Moscow government swept away the markets and street tents, and it came to underground trade. For the chaos reigning there, Sergei Sobyanin even threatened to fire the head of Gormost - this department has a street subway on its balance sheet, and the subway crossings at the exits belong to the Metropolitan, and this is by no means a small business. After that, two state-owned enterprises suddenly discovered that, it turns out, since the 1990s, they have been renting out transitions to developers at bargain prices, and those at exorbitant prices to small retailers.

Intermediaries are 40 companies in the metro and 100 under the wing of "Gormost", they did not complain about life. Merchants got an average of seven times more space in the metro than their city rented out. In 2012 - 12,725 rubles. against 1725 rubles. for 1 sq. m per month. When departments decided to do without intermediaries, for example, in the Metropolitan, rent increased on average six times compared to 2012, and the margin of intermediaries shrank from 40% in 2012 to 14% in 2014. Prices for retailers have also risen.

"Gormost" went further. He raised prices by an average of 11.6 times, which turned out to be beyond profitability for many merchants, and then he completely broke contracts with most management companies. Several tenants have already lost arbitration courts. So “Gormost” wiped out trade from more than half of its crossings: 30 out of 86 remained, and 357 out of 1900 stalls in them.

Intermediaries are engaged not only in subleasing: in addition to selecting tenants and monitoring their work, the duties of management companies include security, cleaning, glass replacement, repair and deratization. Feeling that the clouds were gathering, they even began to invest in the reconstruction of the crossings. A Management Company Porthall rented two outlets near the Tverskaya metro station social business"Avoska Gives Hope", shopping bags for which disabled people produce, 5 thousand rubles each. for the pavilion and promised to find places for another 58 objects. But it was too late.

"Gormost" and "Metropolitan" undertook to perform the functions of management companies themselves. In addition to taking care of video surveillance and the destruction of rats, Gormost independently reconstructs the vacated crossings, and the Metropolitan itself develops a project for the reconstruction of old crossings and launches newly built ones. Now there are fresh tiles, elevators, heated steps, a lot is planned - up to exhibitions of contemporary art. According to the plans of the Moscow Trade Department, up to 1,500 vending machines will be installed there. For ordinary objects of trade, the departments, together with the Moscow Committee for Architecture, developed a single stylistic solution. The new stalls are waiting for decent retail like Intimissimi and Subway, judging by one of the options for the retail location concept (the list of desirable tenants, consisting entirely of large chains, was provided by one of the market participants). But they don't go. By the way, you can even go to Paveletskaya and see what crooked and miserable new stalls have been set up.

Successful points in the transitions are the former "Cherkizon", the most sought-after product is clothing. My friend in the sale of panties and nightgowns beat off the cashier at 170 thousand +/- 5 thousand. But 170 is just rent, and you have to work 7 days a week.

It remains to wait quality retail. After all, in Europe and America in the transitions there are whole shopping centers, Munich started this tradition by building cities underground for the 1972 Olympics. Why don't restaurants and boutiques work with us? However, the rental period in our transitions is a year minus one day, which is standard for non-stationary objects, but unacceptable for serious companies.

There is hope that the networks formed in transitions will move to large formats. The size of such networks can even be difficult to determine: since the 1990s, they have grown to 15-20 outlets and even more. For example, the seller of flash drives, headphones, etc. "Miniport" - 60 points. Many work without a common sign and under several legal entities to remain within the framework of simplified taxation and diversify risks.

The massive closure of kiosks runs counter to government promises to promote small business development, and under conditions economic crisis it is the development of domestic trade that would make it possible to correct potential negative effects: job cuts, increased social tension. But apparently our authorities see things differently. What do you think? Do we really need to close these kiosks?

Every year, St. Petersburg small chains and individual grocery stores it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete with federal players. To survive, they are currently negotiating the creation of a single purchasing union, but large suppliers are preventing this in every possible way.

While there is no such center, large merchants saw an opportunity to expand their sales markets in cooperation with local players. The wholesale departments of Lenta, Ryady Optoclub and METRO Cash and Carry are already supplying goods to stalls and small shops cheaper than wholesale companies or manufacturers do. And the owners of the St. Cash and Carry: In the fall of 2017, the company re-signed three of its six stores, where revenue increased by 5-15%. further development under a different brand.

Found a market

"Fasol" is a franchise project of the METRO Cash and Carry chain of stores for small and medium-sized businesses. Retailer helps owners grocery stores to modernize the business, in return receiving a guaranteed distribution channel, since, by acquiring a franchise, a small business undertakes to purchase a certain volume of goods from METRO.

At present, 220 stores operate under the Fasol brand in Russia, of which 24 are located in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. More than 10 stores will open soon.

The partnership between "First Prize" and METRO Cash and Carry is the first case in St. Petersburg when the brand was replaced by a whole chain of stores. Previously, only individual entrepreneurs and shops of the format "Products 24 hours". Sergey Gorchinenko, commercial director of First Prize, told DP that since September last year, the chain has converted three out of six stores into Fasol and is going to continue cooperation.

According to him, in the face of METRO Cash and Carry, Pervaya Premiya received a major partner, a wide range of products and good prices.

From hopelessness

Against the background of other Russian regions, the Fasol project in St. Petersburg did not develop very actively. Experts attribute this to high competition from federal networks. In St. Petersburg, more than 80% of the retail turnover in the food segment is accounted for by chain retail, and it is formed by the top 10 retailers.

The number of small food retail facilities (non-stationary outlets or single stores with a sales area of ​​200 m2 or more) is decreasing. But the number of small specialized outlets selling pastries, fruits, milk, etc. is growing, InfoLine says.

A few years ago, billionaires Dmitry Kostygin and August Meyer also bet on this audience, bringing to Russian market a new format for the country - a network of hypermarkets "Ryady Optoclub". Optoclubs are designed specifically for b2b-direction and cooperation with small and medium-sized businesses.

"Obviously, for this category of buyers, the offer in St. Petersburg is not developed. Now they come either to wholesale depots with the appropriate level of service and quality of goods, or to us, or to METRO," the Ryady Optoclub states. more than 1 thousand regular buyers-legal entities.

Salvation in union

Ivan Fedyakov believes that in the face of pressure from large chains, the only way for small grocery retailers to survive is to unite in purchasing unions, following the example of retailers in the US and Europe.

In Russia, attempts to create such associations have been made since 2001, but almost all of them failed. A more or less active project in Russia is the Federal Purchasing Union (FZS), which unites 96 regional chains in Russia (more than 4.5 thousand stores), but from all over the North-West it includes only the St. Petersburg "Ulybka Radugi" and the Novgorod network "Quarter".

"The Union reduces the cost of purchases for its members through direct imports, the purchase of commodities in large volumes and the development of their own trademarks. Now the union has six of them, by the end of the year another 20 will appear," the FZS told DP.

The activity of Russian purchasing unions is stalling mainly for two reasons, Ivan Fedyakov is sure - this is the distrust of entrepreneurs towards each other and the low discipline of entrepreneurs: chains make purchases either through the union, or on their own.

Alexander Myshinsky believes that the merger is really inevitable, otherwise small chains simply cannot stand the competition. “We are currently negotiating with colleagues to create a purchasing alliance, but federal suppliers are doing everything possible to prevent this, for example, they threaten not to conclude direct contracts with the union or refuse to reduce prices,” the retailer says.

In the summer, chains experience a traditional decline in sales, many trade in the red. According to Ivan Fedyakov, not all companies will be able to survive this summer season.

I do not see a massive transition of small grids in the near future to work with large networks. The projects "Fasol" and others are, in my opinion, an attempt to study the market of convenience stores by large chains. In fact, these are pocket grids in which the matrix of products is formed, to put it mildly, unprofessionally. I would not argue that independent small retail is dying. See what's happening to the bakery market, how bakeries are growing. "Products 24" is generally a separate format that entrepreneurs from neighboring countries love, and they will certainly hold on to the last.

A government decree of April 9, 2016 approved the rules, according to which the regions must calculate the minimum provision of the population with retail space. However, the authorities of the regions misunderstood the instruction, follows from the letter of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. How the word "minimum" should be interpreted is explained by the ministry in bold type.

"I appeal Special attention that the standards establish the minimum allowable number of retail facilities, that is, they determine the lower thresholds for the provision of the population with trade,” the letter says (a copy is available from Gazeta.Ru), where the last five words, as well as the words “minimum allowable number” are in bold . The document signed by Deputy Minister Viktor Yevtukhov was sent according to the list to the authorities executive power all regions (total 85 addresses).

The demand and necessity of retail facilities of any format is determined solely by the readiness of the business to create new facilities.

The use of minimum standards as a justification for reducing existing or preventing the opening of new retail facilities, primarily small formats, is unacceptable, the letter says.

As an additional incentive, the Ministry of Industry and Trade indicates that the degree of exceeding the regulatory minimums in the field of trade will be one of the criteria for assessing the activities of regional authorities.

For the comfort of consumers and the development of production, a variety of trade formats is important, Viktor Evtukhov commented on his letter to Gazeta.Ru. He noted that " great amount manufacturers will not develop at the expense of networks alone”, for this not everyone has the necessary capacities, “formatted” goods, weight in the market to negotiate with networks on deliveries.

Small shops, bazaars and fairs are important as a marketing channel for farmers. “This is an absolutely inadequate situation when there is not enough space for a manufacturer in some municipality at the fair,” he is indignant.

The government decree on minimum standards established clear rules for the formation of a multi-format trade infrastructure in the regions, Yevtukhov stressed. “In the near future we will supplement them with standards for the minimum provision of the population trading places for the sale of foodstuffs in retail markets," the deputy minister promised.

These standards will take into account the specifics of the territory, including climatic and geographical features. “This should stop the process of reducing small and non-stationary retail facilities and give manufacturers additional distribution channels,” he believes.

Expansion of networks

In practice, the presence of small businesses in retail trade continues to decline - it is being squeezed out by large retail chains, which continue to increase their presence in the regions during the crisis.

turnover retail in Russia continued to fall in the first half of 2016: according to Rosstat, the fall was 5.7%. Meanwhile, the revenue growth rate of the largest chains remains at a high level. Thus, X5 Retail Group announced an increase in revenues for the first half of the year by 26.3%. The main contribution was made by the expansion of Pyaterochka's economy class retail chain – in the second quarter alone, X5 opened 539 such new stores.

Lenta's revenue in the first half of 2016 grew by 21.9%, including due to the opening of new hyper- and supermarkets. The Dixy network also increased its revenue by 20.2% over this period. In the first half of the year, Magnit earned almost 15% more than in the same period last year, expanded its network by almost 800 new stores, and in August announced the opening of new hypermarkets. She opened new discounters and the O'Key network, increasing revenue by 10.1%.

retail collusion

Rosstat provides information on the turnover of retail trade without a breakdown by segments and formats of trade, but highlights the share of retail markets and fairs. From year to year, it is steadily declining - from 10.4% in June 2012 it has already fallen to 7% in June 2016. In the capital, the share of fairs is higher than the national average, but it is also declining faster - from 15.5% in June 2015, it decreased over the year to 12.3%.

“We don’t have exact statistics, but the fact that large networks are actively attacking small retail, small and medium, is a fact,” says Alexander Zharkov, chairman of the board of the Moscow branch of Opora Rossii.

Formally, regional governments, of course, do not support the development of networks at the expense of small businesses, but officials are often convinced that networks pay more taxes and it is easier to work with them, the public figure says.

“I am a member of the small retail commission and I see how, thanks to the lobbying of chains, the government is raising the issue of moving small retail facilities, for example, further away from chain stores. This applies to the same ice cream kiosks, but they are motivated by the fact that this product is already in chain stores, ”Zharkov gives an example.

In general, many small shops behind last years, retail chains clearly dominate in residential areas, he continues. In other regions, the trends are similar, and there networks are killing small retail even faster. As a result, the state may face sad consequences, warns Zharkov: first of all, prices will rise, since it is easier for several large players to agree among themselves than hundreds of small points. The quality of the product may also suffer.

While large federal networks continue to expand, medium and regional ones are shrinking, Vladlen Maksimov, president of the Coalition of Kioskers, notes.

“They complain that they get goods from suppliers at prices that federal networks retail,” he says. And administrative pressure continues on small retailers in different regions. The most a difficult situation now in Kaluga region, in Lipetsk, Maksimov notes.

"They say the same thing: appearance bad. Of course, it’s bad if people don’t have firm rights, ”he is indignant.

In a crisis it can be natural process, believes the director of the Union independent networks Sergey Kuznetsov. “In an unfavorable economic situation, the market is consolidating. The strongest companies increase their share even in a falling market at the expense of the weaker ones that leave,” he states.

But the Russian retail market itself is still in its infancy, the share of network retail in Russia is now about 50%, and in developed markets it is higher.

Therefore, this process is rather normal, but the state must ensure that it does not create advantages for one or another player, the expert concludes.

Significantly crowding out, and more often destroying local food retail, armed modern business technologies, retail chains entered the struggle for the redistribution of the market. Everything is used: promotions, discounts, manipulations with price tags.

Regional authorities only shrug their shoulders, what can you do: we have free competition. Yes, but who, by and large, asked them. And even the most courageous official will not dare to resist these financial monsters, these banking and trade pyramids. Yes, and why is it necessary, if you can cheerfully report on the appearance of new logistics centers of non-resident “aliens” in your region and the creation of dozens of jobs by them.

And the population is happy: the prices are lower, the assortment is larger, and if all local shops have closed around, then rightly so, they will not raise prices on the shelves. And no one hears the weak voices of local retailers about how they can survive, if for them the price of purchasing a product is commensurate with the price of selling the same product in the network.

Everything would be fine, but something began to happen with the quality of goods in the chains, somewhere the smell, somewhere the taste is not the same, and what to do with all this “goodness” if the deadlines for implementation are running out?

To understand the scale of everything that is happening, it is necessary to rise above a simple comparison of prices on the shelves of the Federal Customs Service and local retail, which is not interesting to everyone, and the problem is not only in the ratio of these prices and service.

Not so long ago, we witnessed a conflict between one rebellious manufacturer - the Martadel company and the Dixy retail chain. As a result, it became known contracts that twist the hands of suppliers and manufacturers and incredible “cheat” in retail chains.

With all sorts of tricks, retrobonuses and fees for dubious services, the FCS is forcing the manufacturer to work on the verge of profitability, reducing the volume of products. In order to fit into the purchase prices of retail chains, someone is forced to play on the quality of their products, and why be surprised if even a large manufacturer compared to the Federal Customs Service with its trillion-dollar turnover is like a fly and an elephant, forgive me for this comparison, product manufacturers.

In the absence of an alternative distribution channel in the face of non-chain retail, the manufacturer is forced to agree to the onerous terms of chain contracts and keep silent, and the chains will continue to choke suppliers and manufacturers who were lucky enough to get on their shelves. And there are all sorts of local small producers, then you are welcome out the door, if you go bankrupt, this is your problem. There is not enough space in the sun for everyone.

And in our sky there have already risen several dozens of such "luminaries", or maybe it's more correct to say "black holes", registered in offshores, pumping there like pumps, cash from the economies of our regions, without creating anything in return in the occupied territories.

Unemployment is a consequence closed shops and workshops

Small shops are closing all over the country, small producers are suffering, as they have nowhere else to put their products, admission ticket in retail chains is expensive, and the volumes of their products are not interesting for chains. Jobs are being cut, unemployment is growing in the country, and the population is impoverished.

Separately, I want to say about small retail. More than half of all small businesses are employed in this area, but for our officials this area of ​​activity does not seem to exist, as well as the people involved in it. Small retail trade is not a priority activity, and therefore does not fall under state support small business, therefore, the attitude towards it, at best, is none, and most often, in the interests of large retail, its systematic destruction is taking place.

At the height of the crisis in the country, a war was declared against non-stationary trade facilities (stalls, kiosks, pavilions). Their number is sharply reduced, and in the Tyumen region their number no longer meets the minimum required standards.

With an imperfect and murderous tax system, experiments such as EGAIS (a system for controlling the sale of alcohol) and the introduction of online cash desks are being carried out, and all this under the talk of the health of the nation and the need for tax collection.

And what to collect, if already with all their violations and tax evasion, most representatives of small retail, especially in countryside barely making ends meet?

Expansion

Whether it's a coincidence or not, all these innovations, being a kind of filter for small businesses, play into the hands of the Federal Customs Service, clearing the territory for the further expansion of the regions. The cost of equipment and problems with its operation do not give small businesses a chance to stay on the legal market, so the rapid growth of the FCS is not due to the reduction of their own kind, but due to the reduction of this particular segment of trade.

At one time, with the collapse of the Soviet economy, the massive closure of enterprises, many of our citizens found salvation precisely in trade, managed to feed themselves and their families, now these people are thrown out into the street, left without a livelihood and the prospect of finding a job, and their fate seems to be of little interest. Chattering about the importance of small business and saving jobs, the largest part of it is being liquidated.

Small business on the "sacrificial fire"

But why are numerous “defenders” of small business OPORA, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and many others, including the Federal Antimonopoly Service, silent?

Can't you all see how the expansion of the Federal Customs Service destroys this very small business - the basis of the society's economy, the middle class disappears - the basis of the stability of our society? Why are you all silent?

All optimistic talk about new jobs created by networks with a full social package, to put it mildly, is cunning on the part of retailers and officials affiliated with it. It is possible that some of the local residents in the municipalities will find a place in the "aliens" stores, as a rule, low-skilled positions of a loader or a specialist in the display of goods. Only now, with the advent of one object of any federal trading network, a dozen or even more small shops around will cease to exist, and after them, small commodity producers whose products are closed to the Federal Customs Service. If part-time workers are added to the lost main jobs, then the ratio will not be in favor of the federals at all. And it turns out that in small towns former entrepreneurs work as loaders in "Magnets".

Perhaps someone will ask: where is our state, which sees everything and knows? Indeed, seven years ago, the Trade Law was adopted, limiting this expansion to 25 percent by the presence of one brand in the regional market. To put it bluntly, the figure was taken in the interests of the FCS, without any business case, allowing four major players to easily divide the entire market.

But the appetites of large retailers are growing, and now our next “defender” - the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, proposes to increase the threshold for their presence to 30%, and why be surprised who pays, they protect him, nothing personal - just business.

This is probably our main problem, when everything comes down to personal enrichment in any way, a lot can be solved for money. Adoption federal laws this is no exception, and the law "On Trade" clearly demonstrated this to us. In many regions, federal retail chains already occupy up to 70% of the entire retail market. In this favorable corruption environment, large retail successfully develops, destroying everything around.

But there were, once, including in our history, examples of market regulation in the interests of local business. In pre-revolutionary Russia, merchant guilds existed, and any “newcomer” entering the territory had to first coordinate their business, and not with the governor or officials who can be bought, but with local entrepreneurs.

Someone will object that the latest amendments to the law "On Trade" introduced minimum space standards for different trade formats. All this is more like slyness. How can one, without creating conditions for the development of small forms of trade, directively increase their number? Unless, perhaps, send some of our officials to small businesses, where, according to our Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, incomes are high.

Issue price

For reference: the share of trade in the country's Gross Domestic Product significantly exceeds the share of hydrocarbon production and all minerals combined, as well as the share industrial production and many other areas of activity. In terms of revenue, trade is second only to real estate transactions. This is an excellent "pie", for which network retail in Russia is now fighting.

In anticipation of new changes to the law "On Trade", some manufacturers live in the hope of getting on the shelf in the distribution network on more favorable terms for themselves. Perhaps it will be so, for some time, someone will be lucky, but who can forbid a monopolist to choose the manufacturer himself and the range of his products?

Having an incredible concentration of capital at the FCS, (the capitalization of Magnit alone is commensurate with the capitalization of such metallurgical giants like Severstal, Magnitogorsk and Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works combined), in the near future the chains will easily buy these manufacturers or replace them own production which is actually already happening.

While we, blaming small retailers for all the sins, instead of creating conditions for its development as an alternative sales channel for local producers, are watching its death, the Federal Customs Service, to the applause of officials, is masterfully developing our territories, building logistics centers, entering every yard .

A couple more years, and there will be nothing to restore. It doesn’t take much to destroy the mind, it’s much more difficult to create it.

Considering that the FCS can be successfully split up and renamed, the only solution capable of influencing the growth of their expansion would be to limit their overall share of presence in municipalities up to 40 or 50 percent. It is in the municipalities, and not in the regions, otherwise local retail will remain only on the outskirts. Prohibit chains from building and renting new retail space above this share.

This solution will preserve local retail and local producers, jobs and stability in our community. But who will go for it if personal enrichment is at the forefront, and the incredible income of the Federal Customs Service allows them to open any doors.

Even Karl Marx argued that when the capital has a profitability of 300%, he will stop at nothing. The Russian communists have already submitted bill No. 1092321-6 to the State Duma establishing this restriction, which, as usual, the Duma rejected.

At a meeting of President Vladimir Putin with the Council of Legislators on April 24, 2017, the chairman of the Tyumen Regional Duma, Sergei Korepanov, again raised this problem and proposed setting a general presence threshold for all nonresident retail at 50%. Based on the results of this meeting, an instruction was prepared for the government of the Russian Federation to work out this proposal.

Small business in Russia froze in anticipation, whose proposal will prevail: the government, with the eternal lobbyist of the interests of the FCS - the Ministry of Industry and Trade, offering to reduce the existing restrictions on the expansion of the FCS, or the President of Russia and the speaker of the Tyumen Regional Duma Sergey Korepanov, who want to limit this expansion, protecting local small businesses and local producers.

If this initiative does not pass again, it is not difficult to imagine the further development of events.

With a complete monopoly in the trade market, the prices of goods in the chains will rise, there is no point in competing when the market is divided. Several large players will freely agree among themselves, and the population, in the absence of competition, will receive an increase in prices when the quality of the goods falls.

Gentlemen, officials and deputies, we still have a chance to create conditions for changing the situation for the better: for developing the economy in the regions and improving the quality of life of people!