The State Duma of the Russian Federation earlier passed a law according to which from January 1, 2013 it will be possible to sell alcoholic beverages, including beer, only in stationary retail outlets. Kiosks will be outlawed. Alcohol has always belonged to a liquid group of goods, which means that owners of retail stalls will be left without a significant portion of revenue.
Following this, the Russian Ministry of Health created a bill that will limit the trade in tobacco products. Only retail outlets with an area of more than 50 square meters can sell cigarettes. m, there will be installed special closed counters. At the moment, the proposed Draft Bill has not yet been adopted by the State Duma, because it was sent for revision, many believe that it is just a matter of time, it will be adopted.
Small business, therefore, will be deprived of the right to sell liquid alcohol and cigarettes throughout Russia. This injustice has led to the creation of the Kiosk Coalition. There are also centers of protest in Novosibirsk. The ban on the sale of alcoholic drinks and cigarettes will contribute to the fact that 80% of their usual revenue will go from small businesses, therefore, many will be on the brink of ruin. Tax revenues will be reduced, many people will be left without work. According to conservative estimates of the coalition in Novosibirsk, with the entry into force of the above laws, several thousand people will be left without work.
The “Kiosk Coalition” began active when the owners of the stalls organized and held a rally on May 1, 2012. The outrage was that all the bans concerned only small businesses, larger retail outlets should not suffer from innovations. Mikhail Epishkin, who is also the regional coordinator, says that the main thing is to attract the attention of the authorities, only then will it be possible to establish a dialogue with the authorities.
The rally alone is not able to solve the problem, so it will not be limited to it. In addition, back in May, owners posted lightboxes screaming about “discrimination against small businesses” at retail outlets. Further, at the end of June, lightboxes became insufficient, large banners appeared near the stalls. The inscription reads: “We are for the equal rights of small outlets and large supermarkets.” However, entrepreneurs argue that it is still necessary to regulate the sale of alcohol and tobacco at the state level, but this should be civilized and fair.
The authorities of Novosibirsk declare that it is open for dialogue, they are ready to talk with entrepreneurs about reprofiling the assortment. Deputy Nikolai Surkov believes that the regional Legislative Assembly is a very open structure, ready to discuss all possible solutions to the problem. The authorities do not consider the problem that kiosks will be massively closed, employment centers, according to officials, will gladly accept everyone. Re-profiling is also actually impossible; legislative barriers prevent it. One of these is the ban on the sale of milk related to sanitary standards. The market for other products is very crowded, it is already occupied.
