Signs of the crisis: not only food is getting more expensive, but stores are closing

According to official data only, prices for potatoes and carrots in Russian stores increased by 40 and 34% over the year. Tomatoes and cucumbers - by 20% and 16%. At the same time, Rosstat recently announced that inflation in the Russian Federation for 2020 is at 4.9%. “Apparently the prices were kept on purpose so that Rosstat would calculate”, - the experts of the popular Boilernaya channel remarked sarcastically.

But the network analyst Alexander Smirnov decided to personally check what has risen in price and what has not, and went to the store with a calculator.

“On the fact of the last visit to the store, I did not find a single position among food products that rose in price after the New Year by less than 15-20%.

Basically, it has risen in price by 20-25%. I specially went to the store with a calculator and counted. It was curious.

The range of fruits / vegetables has also decreased. Pears disappeared (before, several varieties were constantly lying), many apples, etc.

Of course, our "tight-knit" population does not care, they "if only there was no war" and "how is it in Syria / Ukraine / Omerichka / Geyrop" is more valuable.

But I was thinking... This is just the beginning.

What is the reason?

Well, first of all, the growth of the dollar.

Secondly, an increase in indirect payments such as Mercury, Plato, bank fees, tax administration costs, etc.

Thirdly, a drop in household income and, accordingly, demand, and with it, volumes and, as a consequence, an increase in the percentage of costs for everyone - from suppliers and manufacturers to importers, packers and stores.

Fourth, the closure and bankruptcy of a huge number of small and medium suppliers, a large number of importers. And the inability to quickly establish import with new ones.

Well, try now to come to any bank and say "I have 10 million dollars, I want to pay to Germany for apples". Horseradish.

Start with 100 thousand, and no more than 30% prepayment. Although nothing else has been delivered to Russia other than with 100% prepayment. Previously, hundreds of "converters" companies helped out, who solved this problem for 1-2% by sending money under their fictitious contracts and paying for you directly from their offshore companies.

Now almost all of them have been covered, and there is no possibility in Russia to legally pay for import contracts. So importers are suffering, and all this costs not 1-2%, but 15-20%, and today they do not end up in the pockets of "near-banksters", but in the pockets - it is clear whose..."

As one of the commenters on this post wrote:

“But I'm afraid that the ruble exchange rate is artificially supported, and the collapse will be painful. Since prices are rising (in "Magnet" bananas cost 55 rubles per kg before the New Year, and now they are already 82 rubles, but the exchange rate is holding, but this contradicts the laws of economics. By the way, bananas today have become the staple food of pensioners. Not bread and not potatoes , namely bananas. And for them the price increase is one of the largest. Much more than 20-25%..."

And social psychologist Alexei Roshchin noted another alarming trend of these days - the closing of stores:

“Willy-nilly, lately I have noticed some more and more obvious signs of a creeping crisis. It is enough just to get out and walk a little along the street - in my bedroom district of Moscow.

There was VkusVill opposite - it closed. Now, in the rather large area that he occupied, there are three small grocery shops, all of them have different owners - vegetables, rolls, groceries, sausages, milk. But they occupy little, there is clearly too much space for them. There was another room through the wall, where the clock repair tried to establish itself first - it moved out, then some sale of small electrical goods - moved out, it has been empty for a month and a half.

Even worse - after 50 m there is a huge empty room, which six months ago was occupied by a whole "Magnet"! Since then, the owners cannot sell this place to anyone! A great place for a store, surrounded by continuous high-rise buildings, far from the metro - no one willing. With grief, as you can understand, the owners let in some kind of "fur fair" at the beginning of winter - but they did not even pretend that they were going to settle for a long time; for a month they steamed some shabby fur coats and hats - and disappeared.

Generally it is strange. I don’t remember such desolation for a long time. Earlier, another tendency was noticeable: in our "sleeping" rows, all sorts of self-made shops belonging to some single owners or "service points" such as household services or hairdressing salons were being ousted everywhere - and chain stores solemnly burst into their places (on my street, two "Bills" at a distance of 200 m from each other, and on the neighboring - at the same distance two Dixie stores).

It infuriated and depressed me - networkers of the same type, devoid of individuality, did not evoke other feelings. But now, as we can see, this tendency has also "broken" - on the contrary, some kind of "ebb" has started: Myasnov, VkusVill, Magnit have closed around me in a year... began to pick up tentacles.

But this is Moscow! Whatever one may say, it is the richest city in Russia, where residents have the highest salaries, and even the minimum (!) Moscow pension is 5 thousand more than the average (!!) Russian pension. And if, even here, retail outlets are dying, and new ones do not open, it means that there is definitely something wrong with effective demand.

A good, in a word, picture in the year of elections to the State Duma..."

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As another resident of the capital wrote in the comments:

“Prospekt Mira from the ring road to Rizhskaya: 30% of the retail space is boarded up and painted. First of all, a dozen cafes. Instead of good and not cheap shops, there are pharmacies with cheap prices and coffee shops. There was no such desolation even in the 1990s..."