The Kuleba Wife Closes an Adult Store Due to New Air-Alert Rules: What Angered Her

Ukrainian PR specialist and co-founder of a network of adult stores, Svitlana Pavelyetska, candidly spoke about the financial difficulties facing entrepreneurs in Ukraine. According to her, running a business under constant shelling, falling sales, and new rules causes significant losses.

On her Instagram page, Pavelyetska noted that due to constant threats and interruptions in work, sales in some of her stores, located in shopping centers, have become "simply zero."

The situation is complicated by the initiative regarding the so-called "yellow alert." According to the new provisions, establishments can continue to operate, but entrepreneurs are required to independently arrange shelters for staff and customers.

How exactly a store inside a mall is supposed to build its own shelter, I don’t really understand. Perhaps, between the cash register and the shelf with goods,

— complains Svitlana.

Currently the entrepreneur and her partners have decided to temporarily close one of the stores. However, completely terminating its operation proved not so simple. According to Pavelyetska, terminating the contract and closing just one unprofitable point in a mall requires colossal financial costs.

You can't always just close a losing store. To close one of our locations, we need to pay about two million hryvnias. Just for the right to no longer operate,

— the businesswoman’s admission shocked us.

She also explained in more detail how the system of interaction with landlords in shopping centers works and why all risks fall solely on business owners.

Stores pay mall rent and a percentage of turnover. So we share the good. And when sales are zero, goods are frozen, salaries and rent must be paid, and each location generates losses, then everyone is on their own,

— explains the reality for Svitlana.