416 CAFES AND STORES WERE CLOSED IN ST. PETERSBURG

Analysts of the Knight Frank consulting agency have studied the rate of closure of catering establishments in St. Petersburg. It turned out that the indicators of 2019 were overlapped 2.4 times - the city lost 416 street retail establishments. Among the closed businesses, 43% were restaurants, 13% were bars and pubs, and another 11% were coffee shops.

Although experts note that almost the same number of the outlets (402 enterprises) was reopened, a comparison with the indicators of 2019 shows a market decline of 20%. Mainly restaurants (55%) and other catering establishments were opened. 17% of the newly opened outlets were in bars, and another 8% were in fast food.

These data supplement the information previously disclosed by the specialists of the Colliers International consulting agency. They show that 10% of catering establishments were closed in the city between March and August.

The outlets were closed because of the rent payments, which the companies were unable to pay due to the lack of financial savings.

Many enterprises could not or did not want to change the orientation and quickly organize the delivery of products, as well as work of the pick-up points.

Along with catering, clothing and footwear stores, as well as the sellers of souvenir products, were subject to complete closure. Experts note that Nevsky Prospekt has lost such retail outlets as FARSH and Hospitality Shop. Eurasia and Trattoria Stefano closed their doors on Bolshoy Prospekt (Petrogradskaya Side). Three stores of the Heritage chain on Nevsky Prospect were closed as well.

The Respublika book chain has completely abandoned the market of St. Petersburg.

Experts point out that a quick change of places of trade proved to be difficult for the majority of entrepreneurs. The network companies that have free financial means to transfer their business, or those who did not work quite legally, using “gray” schemes, turned out to be more mobile. A significant part of the small businesses were forced to close their trade areas, having no working capital to move.

St. Petersburg is called the most problematic city in Russia, which suffered from a long period of social isolation. Unlike in Moscow, the authorities in St. Petersburg did not initiate the lifting of restrictions for a long time. As a result, when the summer verandas gradually returned to work in June, and bars and restaurants opened in late July, many establishments were stranded due to the downtime.

Back in June, the city officials stated they expected 40% of closures among small businesses.

It is known that the "island" trade in the shopping center will restart only on September 12, and it is planned to restart the work of food courts as well. At the same time, the entrepreneurs of St. Petersburg have already turned to the Government of the Russian Federation with a request to prohibit the local authorities from restricting the work of the service sector, as it was in the period from March to July, fearing that a repetition of such events could lead to ruin and bankruptcy.