The entrepreneur told how the mobilization affected the buying mood of Russians

The partial mobilization announced on September 21, 2022 has become a serious challenge for the owners of shopping centers, restaurants, cinemas and fitness clubs. In a stressful situation, of course, the desire to go shopping and watch a movie while crunching popcorn disappears in people – a sharp decrease in attendance and profitability has already been recorded. Entrepreneurs spoke about the situation in their industry and how they plan to cope with the new crisis.

Another decline in the leisure segment of the economy has several reasons. First, many potential customers and buyers have either been mobilized or left Russia. The rest refuse to go shopping and to the cinema – the mood for this is not conducive at all. The statistics are depressing: traffic in Russian shopping and entertainment centers fell by an average of 7.4%, and the drop in rental income, according to businessmen, is already 35-45%. At fitness centers, sales of club cards have decreased by 10-25% and cases of refusals of purchased subscriptions have become more frequent, restaurants are also empty. Where it leads?

As the President of the Russian Council of Shopping Centers, Dmitry Moskalenko, noted, the outflow of customers is directly related to the assortment that shopping centers are ready to offer. The process of leaving the Russian Federation of Western brands has not yet been completed – stores continue to sell off old stocks, although there is definitely no talk of returning companies to the Russian market.

“Now some Russian chains are buying franchises from Turkish companies, but so far the process is uneven – of course, much more is leaving than coming in. According to our estimates, even if all Western stores close altogether, this will be only 20% of retail space, and the market may well occupy them. As for import substitution, the situation is still peculiar: there is potential, but a lot is tied to foreign equipment. In addition, now it is more profitable to bring finished goods from China and sell them here than to make them in Russia, and this also affects the development of Russian production. So I will say this: attendance fell by 7-15%, but it is not necessary to say that shopping centers are empty, ”Moskalenko said.

Meanwhile, the sellers of the stores operating in the Moscow shopping centers, with whom MK managed to communicate, are skeptical – according to them, there is a decrease in people’s interest in shopping. Those Muscovites who in the spring in a panic bought everything-everything-everything, now dropped their hands and indulged in despondency.

– They continue to buy, but we are not talking about the pleasure of shopping. This is not even a shopping anti-stress, as often happens. They used to come to buy to cheer themselves up, now there is no such thing. People just take what they need. Sometimes they break. Yesterday, for example, I had a customer, silently took a bottle of perfume, went to the cashier. I say: they say, take 100 ml, there will be no more supplies. She suddenly told me: “Yes, now a lot of things will no longer be, including a normal life!”. So what is the answer here? – says Nadezhda K., a consultant for a chain store of perfumery.

The attendance of shopping centers is inextricably linked with the attendance of cinemas – well, according to experts, the film industry is now going through the most difficult situation: no one hopes to get out, there is not a single prerequisite for this. As Roman Isaev, a member of the Council of the Association of Cinema Owners, noted, today 41% of cinema halls in the country do not work – and it will only get worse.

“We now remember the pandemic with longing. The industry collapsed. First of all, because of the departure of Hollywood films: you can argue as much as you like about its merits and demerits, but it gave us content. It is impossible to replace it with Russian films: they are unattractive to the audience. For example, only Indian expats who live in our cities go to Indian cinema – they come, clap and are very happy. Of course, thanks to them for this, but they will not create revenue. In the summer, we sank 4 times, which is worse than in any other related industry. We have not received any help from the state yet, our requests are not being heard yet,” Isaev explained.

Against this background, the situation with public catering looks more or less stable: after all, food is a more urgent need than watching a movie or buying new clothes. According to Igor Bukharov, head of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia, the situation differs from region to region, in addition, restaurant attendance always decreases in September – all that remains is to compare the statistics and see how much it has decreased.

“Today, simpler establishments are gaining momentum, and attendance is declining in expensive restaurants – if we try to calculate some kind of “average”, then nothing objective will come of it. There are definitely no such problems as there were during covid, everything is within the normal range, ”Bukharov briefly explained.

Sports centers and fitness clubs found themselves in a difficult situation: difficulties crept up to them from two sides at the same time. Firstly, clients lose their desire and motivation to go to work, and secondly, many young male employees are forced to leave after receiving summons for mobilization. All this together creates sad prospects, Olga Kiseleva, President of the Association of Fitness Industry Operators, said:

“If September is a disastrous month for restaurants, then in the fitness industry, on the contrary, it is the peak of the season – everyone returns after the summer holidays and begins to engage in themselves again. Not so this year. The first week after September 21, the fall in fitness clubs’ revenues was about 30-35%. Now our attendance is falling: people simply stop going even with already purchased subscriptions, they don’t want to do fitness when this happens around. In addition, there is also an objective reason for the decrease in traffic. We do not know how many mobilization summonses have been received by clients, but we know the statistics on our employees – about 3-4% have already left with summonses, and about 2% have left Russia. Whom to replace them with is an open question, this is a very serious personnel problem, ”Kiselyova described the situation.