In Moscow stores, they said that Russians are buying up amid the growth of the dollar

It seems that the growth of the dollar and the euro against the ruble is for a long time. The previous time it happened in February-March 2022, when everyone expected the collapse of the ruble, but as a result, the exchange rates still rolled back. Then there was a rush in the stores – they bought imported goods, anticipating a rise in price. Now the situation looks different: the dollar is flying up, but the stores are quiet. Why this happens and when to wait for the price tags to be rewritten – MK found out.

Buyer excitement? Can not see! At least in shopping malls and stand-alone hardware stores. Deserted halls, lazily walking along the rows or consultants crowding in the far corners, no queues at the checkout. Approximately so it is possible to describe chain supermarkets of electronics in several large shopping centers of the capital visited by the MK correspondent.

“No, no one is sweeping away anything, everything is calm, the goods are in stock,” Vladimir, a senior sales assistant at one of these chain stores, confirmed. — There are problems with some items that are only made to order, but this has been the case for quite a long time, it began even before 2022.

Rewriting price tags on a daily basis, as it was in the 90s, is not yet practiced in hardware stores: items are sold at the same price at which they entered the store. Another issue is that new arrivals often turn out to be more expensive – it is very possible that when the goods purchased at the new rate arrive, the prices will not please, the consultant added.

A similar situation is in one of the former radio markets, now electronic shopping malls, in Moscow’s Fili. Such complexes are generally a somewhat outgoing nature, and now even the next rise in the dollar and the euro has not cheered up the situation. Semi-dark corridors, many closed pavilions; there are more points for repairing equipment and selling all kinds of little things – from cosmetics to Buddhist accessories – than actually electronics stores. There is no such thing as excitement.

“My clients all stocked up for the coming years last spring,” laughs the salesperson of professional photography equipment. – Now no one has the money to take at current prices, so we buy and sell used ones, we keep on that. There is also an idea to organize equipment rental, it is more in demand now. As for the exchange rate, we’ll see if it falls again. Buying, like last year, turned out to be very expensive.

Indeed, last year, many Russian wholesalers and importers stocked up on imported goods in anticipation of “$200” – and faced the inability to quickly sell what they purchased. True, in the fall, as the interlocutor of MK said, the goods still sold out: in any case, new imports were difficult and did not turn out to be cheap.

“They are buying up consumables that will definitely rise in price,” MK was told at the point of issue of the online tool store. – Blades and blades for power tools, especially those that go “for dollars.” People know what they’ll need in the coming months and stock up.

The store expects a proportional drop in demand for this product in the coming months. Therefore, it is not yet ready to say whether there will be new deliveries of the entire range. One way or another, basic positions will be brought in, but, most likely, as new batches arrive, they will rise in price.

“Each new batch has been more expensive than the previous one for three years now, sometimes by 20–25%,” shares Tamara Semenova, a salesperson at a gas fittings store (stoves, boilers and accessories) in the Yaroslavl region. “Therefore, I have had one recommendation for a long time: if you want to take something, take it as soon as possible, the next delivery will already be more expensive.

Still, there is a rush in some places – for example, the assortment of designer backpacks and sweatshirts from Europe has sharply narrowed in a special store designed for parallel imports in the center of Moscow. The rest of the deliveries at the “prices of 2022” do not look like a gift: these are demonstration copies without factory packaging and with some scuffs. And new things come at “post-crisis” prices.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29064 dated July 6, 2023

Newspaper headline:
And the markets are quiet