Kyiv's bazaars offer variety, atmosphere, a way of life (04/20/03)

Kyiv's bazaars offer variety, atmosphere, a way of life

by Andrew Nynka

KYIV - When Maria Filipovska goes shopping, she says she goes only to the city's bazaars or outdoor markets. Even though hundreds of new, clean and modern stores have popped up all around this city, selling everything from fresh, neatly packaged groceries, housewares and kitchen appliances to the latest in fashion apparel, cosmetics and beauty products, she says there are still other issues at hand.

"It's just too expensive for me," said Ms. Filipovska. "Besides, there are more choices at the bazaars."

For many of this city's nearly 3 million residents, the vast number of bazaars provide just about all that a Kyivan needs, and then some. The contrast, however, between the newer and much cleaner stores along the Khreschatyk or in the newly built mall under Independence Square, for instance, and a bazaar or outdoor market - where many Ukrainians continue to shop - is extreme.

Ukraine's markets offer numerous, and usually much more numerous, choices for the shopper looking for just about anything, and they often do so at lower prices. However, many shoppers also say there is a difference in the quality and presentation of the products and the atmosphere at the markets, often called "rynky," or bazaars. To tourists, many of the rynky, which are usually located outdoors and not in Kyiv's best neighborhoods, could present a foreign and downright scary atmosphere.

Although the quality of products in Ukraine's markets has improved over the past few years, the food is often presented unwrapped, and in some cases fish and various meats are not refrigerated. Shopping for clothes at a bazaar usually means scavenging through numerous booths and kiosks. Looking for books means hunting through hundreds of boxes filled randomly with unusual Soviet-era publications.

At times it can seem that Kyiv's Petrivka bazaar - known for the large quantity of books and clothing sold there - is filled with people smoking. On weekends the bazaar, located north of the city center near Taras Shevchenko University, is packed with people.

The rynky can also provide an entirely friendly atmosphere where, in some cases, friendships have been established over the course of decades. "This is my way of life - it's all that I know," said 73-year-old Kateryna Pivkorna, who sells pumpkin and sunflower seeds at Kyiv's Volodymyrskyi rynok, which is situated just south of the city center, right across the street from the Ukraina Palace of Culture The bazaar, which sells various foods, including meats, vegetables and nuts as well as clothes, trinkets, toys and various other items, is regarded by many in the city as one of the more expensive markets. Ms. Pivkorna says she's been at the bazaar for over 30 years and considers it a second home.

According to the non-governmental organization Ukrainian Market, which, along with scholars, various government ministries and other Ukrainian NGOs, is working to renovate and privatize Ukraine's markets, some 3 million people are employed in the country's 2,715 bazaars - half of which are privately owned.

"These markets have a gigantic impact on social, economic and other spheres," said Oleksander Nazarenko, the president of Ukrainian Market. In the first half of 2002 Kyiv's Troyeschyna market, located on the left bank of the Dnipro River, alone brought in nearly 6.5 million hrv (roughly $1.2 million U.S.) in tax revenue for Ukraine, Mr. Nazarenko said.

While many new stores have sprouted up throughout the city, Ukrainians say they still prefer shopping in Kyiv's 115 or so bazaars. Many of those bazaars, said Oleh Kaplii, director of the Institute of Property, another of the non-governmental organizations working to reform Ukraine's bazaars, are communal and run by a director who is often appointed by a city administration.

Although both individual booth owners at traditional bazaars and employees in the city's newer shops admit that business has not been great, many seem to indicate that both the bazaars and the newer stores can and do co-exist.

Business at the Tommy Hilfiger, Esprit and Pierre Cardin stores has been good, employees there said, but many of the people walking around the mall where those stores are located, in the underground pedestrian walkways almost directly under the city's famous Besarabskyi rynok and Independence Square, say they mainly eat in the restaurants or simply like the atmosphere and enjoy looking around.

But sellers at the Darnytsia rynok, located on Kyiv's left bank, said times are tough and business for them has slowed. "We're being squeezed," said Ivan Ivanovych, who gave only his first name and patronymic. Originally from Chernihiv Oblast, Ivan, 68, said he spent 26 years in the military and retired with what he called a meager pension. Now the he and his wife live in Kyiv and sell coffee.

But the future appears to have some changes in store for the country's rynky, as both President Leonid Kuchma and the Verkhovna Rada are reviewing laws that would further reform and privatize Ukraine's markets, making them "modern-day commerce centers," the organization Ukrainian Market said late last year.

Many of the vendors at the rynky said they hadn't followed the changes very closely. Ivan Ivanovych and many of his friends at the Darnytsia rynok said they were not very concerned about the future, whether that future meant the possibility of reforms or the threat that newer stores may pose to their business.

While sipping his coffee and talking with friends, Ivan Ivanovych said, "We'll continue doing what we're doing. The newer stores will have their clients, and all of my friends who've been coming here for years, I believe, will continue coming to visit me."

Weekly Editor Andrew Nynka is on special assignment in Ukraine.

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