Russian chain Vkusvill gives up European ambitions

Russian fresh food chain Vkusvill is closing its four Dutch stores and shelves its European expansion ambitions. The retailer says the project was not successful: Western consumers seem to have very different eating habits than Russians.

“For old people”

Vkusvill opened its first European store in Amsterdam, in June 2020. The chain with more than 1,300 stores in 59 Russian cities thenset its sights on Paris and did not rule out a move to Belgium. Later, three more stores were added in the Netherlands, but that is where the expansion halted. These four branches will be closed, Russian news agency Interfax reports. According to founder Andrei Krivenko, the project was not successful.  

The retailer wanted to distinguish itself as ‘the healthy supermarket’ with a limited range of fresh and local products, but that concept did not catch on. “A year of operating has shown that consumers are not interested, and even worse, they said that the products that VkusVill chooses are only eaten by old people, and young people avoid them,” the Vkusvill founder explains.

Unfavourable climate

Krivenko sees that European consumers have radically changed their buying behaviour: “Around 30 % of English youth and young Europeans do not drink real milk anymore, only plant-based. It could quite easily pan out that those flavors that Western consumers choose will come to Russia in the future, but they are practically at zero here for now.” 

Possibly another factor plays into the decision is the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has made Western consumers and suppliers reluctant to do business with Russian companies. The climate is very unfavourable, a factor that was also mentioned by that other Russian retail chain with European ambitions: Mere, the Siberian hard discounter, is closing its stores in the United Kingdom and Spain and giving up its European conquest plans. The discounter cannot find suppliers and has difficulty obtaining licences.