Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has been vocal in his intention to limit the number of illegal small street shops, referred to in Kyiv as kiosks.
In Klitschko’s battle against illegal street commerce, the press kiosks that have been selling Kyiv its newspapers for almost a hundred years, are getting caught in the crossfire.
And in a world where print media is already dying, these press kiosks are grasping for survival.
Hanna Kulakovska, 62, director of the Soyuzdruk press retail company, is one of the people fighting back again Klitschko’s attack on street vendors.
Soyuzdruk is Kyiv’s main kiosk chain selling print issues of popular newspapers and magazines. The company has been around for nearly 90 years.
Shortly after Ukraine’s independence, Soyuzdruk ended up with nearly 550 retail locations across Kyiv. In 2021, the company held 320 kiosks, only half of which sold press. To make ends meet, 140 kiosks were leased to local entrepreneurs that sell tobacco, food and other goods.
Kulakovska says that Kyiv’s utility services demolished two Soyuzdruk kiosks and planned to crush 10 more, despite the company having all the required permits. The city authorities disagree, claiming that Soyuzdruk has been illegally selling tobacco without proper licenses.
According to Kulakovska, press vendors are done. As demand for print media rapidly decreases, local authorities are killing the last major press retailer.
Dying print
Kulakovska has devoted nearly 40 years of her life to Soyuzdruk, starting with the company back when it was the main distributor of print media in the Soviet Union. She also now owns a stake in Soyuzdruk.
She recalls with nostalgia that it used to be better for print media during the Soviet era. Soyuzdruk was a centralized network of kiosks run by Soviet authorities.
Despite the fact that there was no free, independent press in the Soviet Union, Kulakovska says that the circulation of local newspapers was much higher.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Soyuzdruk was divided into multiple private companies. Over the years, many Soyuzdruk companies in oblasts sold off their kiosks.
Kyiv Soyuzdruk is among the last companies still afloat, although it’s struggling. In 2020, the company suffered a Hr 3.8 million ($143,000) net loss.
“We barely survive because there are no profits,” Kulakovska says.
And consistent with the global trend, the demand for print media outlets is indeed plummeting.
According to the GlobalLogic tech company, only around 8% of Ukrainians read print media. As demand for print media declines, print media outlets are shuttering. According to Chatham House, the number of print newspapers decreased from 2,285 in 2010 to 1,666 in 2017.
Attacks from authorities
Kulakovska lays most of the blame for the reduction of press kiosks on Klitschko and his multiple predecessors.
According to her, all of them have been willing to demolish kiosks, allegedly aiming to install other kiosks that would be more profitable for the authorities.
To back up her claim, Kulakovska says that in 2018 the local authorities ordered to demolish 12 Soyuzdruk’s press kiosks, despite a 2009 parliament decree that places a moratorium on the eviction of organizations that sell or lease print media such as bookstores, libraries and press kiosks.
Only two Soyuzdruk kiosks were demolished, after the company won a lawsuit against Kyiv authorities.
City authorities, however, have a different story to tell.
According to Kyiv city regulations in 2018, a kiosk selling cigarettes had to pay at least Hr 18,000 ($660) in fees while Soyuzdruk’s press kiosks are only required to pay up to Hr 3,500 ($130).
Klitschko’s advisor, Dmytro Bilotserkovets says that the Soyuzdruk kiosks were to be demolished because Soyuzdruk was illegally selling cigarettes and making a profit from paying lower fees.
“It is very profitable to work like Soyuzdruk: minimal payments to the budget, yet locations with high traffic,” Bilotserkovets wrote on Facebook in 2018.
Kulakovska denies the accusations and says that it’s the companies that rent out kiosks from Soyuzdruk that sell cigarettes. Kulakovska says the company has all the required permits.
In June, local authorities forced Soyuzdruk to remove four kiosks from downtown Kyiv due to sidewalk repair. However, Kulakovska says that it’s just an excuse to get rid of the company’s presence in downtown.
“It often happens that we remove kiosks and then never return,” said Kulakovska.
Kulakovska says that soon kiosks will have to shut down because the Kyiv City Council plans to sell the rights of installing kiosks through the ProZorro.Sale auction platform.
The rights will be sold to the company that will make the largest bid at the auction.
“We won’t be able to pay big money,” Kulakovska says.
Bilotserkovets says that this change would allow small businesses to own their own kiosks instead of leasing them from big networks such as Soyuzdruk.
“Our principle is that all entrepreneurs must have equal rights and conditions. There must be justice for all businesses,” Bilotserkovets says. “Who pays more, receives the documents,” he adds. “We have a market economy.”
Kulakovska says that Soyuzdruk isn’t planning on expanding and improving its network of kiosks. She says they are in constant fear of demolition.
“There is no future (for press kiosks)”, Kulakovska says.
