The development of the city trade activities has been discussed at the session, Kazan City Duma.

(KZN.RU, October 29, Alena Miroshnichenko). The consumer market in Kazan is one of the main sectors of the city’s economy today. The growing tourist flow and global events hosted by the capital of Tatarstan give an impulse to development, said Ildar Shakirov, the deputy head of the Executive Committee, at the session of the Kazan City Duma. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, chaired the session. It was attended by deputies, leaders, and representatives of city, republican and federal departments, representatives of the retail network, and entrepreneurs.

In total, the city has almost 7 thousand objects of the consumer market, including 3.5 thousand objects of general trade, 1.5 thousand points of public catering and about 2 thousand objects of consumer services. Over the past 10 years, the turnover of market trade in current prices has increased by 3 times from 175 billion rubles to 485 billion rubles. Kazan has about 60% of retail turnover and 57% of the catering turnover of the republic, added Herman Lerner, the deputy minister of German Industry and Trade.

The volume of online sales is growing against the background of universal digitalization. This figure is constantly increasing despite the fact that the share of online purchases today accounts for only 1.5% of the total retail turnover. Kazan is still in sixth place among million-population cities, noted I. Shakirov. The share of network trade in the food product group in the total commodity turnover is about 35.4% in Tatarstan. It is marked as a growth point for the trade industry of the city and the republic.

Ilsur Metshin and Ildar Shakirov noted the appearance of residents of the international level in the Kazan market. The company “Castorama”, the “Metro Cash & Carry” network and their shop at the house “Fasol”, the hypermarkets “Lenta” are among them. Due to the expansion of the consumer market, increasingly there are controversial situations between entrepreneurs and citizens in the field of consumer protection. However, from 2010 to 2016, Tatarstan rose from 37th place to 3rd in the rating in terms of the protection of consumer interests by the state authorities. The rating is held every two years.

An active work is underway to support local and republican manufacturers. Today, there are specialized platforms in 9 territories where citizens can sell their goods daily without the cost of renting a trading place. “As time has shown, this format is so in demand that other major cities of the republic and other regions of Russia are interested in them. This is the support not only of the village workers, but also of the city residents themselves since they have the opportunity to purchase environmentally friendly products at producer prices”, said I. Shakirov.

“In recent years, the city has significantly changed its retail network. The largest retail brands have come to us. They are developing a network of convenience stores, a system of agricultural seasonal fairs. Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank the Ministry of Agriculture of the RT, heads of regions of the republic, who organize the export to the city of diverse, inexpensive, and high-quality products of local producers. And we will continue to do everything so that the development of trade will be civilized and diverse”, said the Mayor of the city.

In addition, he addressed Denis Kalinkin, the head of the Executive Committee, and the heads of districts with a proposal to expand the practice of holding fairs and to allocate additional sites for holding them if possible.

Once again, the non-stationary trade was discussed by officials. I. Shakirov said that this year, Kazan adopted a scheme for the placement of such retail facilities, which includes 740 locations. The budget received about 14.5 million rubles under the first 210 contracts. In total, not less than 70 million rubles is expected to be received annually. The work is underway to make changes to the improvement rules of Kazan, to allow entrepreneurs to expand their facilities to a larger area than 60 square meters.

In addition, the work continues to regulating seasonal trade. This year, their number has decreased from 700 to 500. “Initially, the main goal for us was not to increase profits. We tried to regulate trade”, said I. Shakirov.

The measures against illegal trade are being strengthened. Earlier, the ineffectiveness of penalties in this field was repeatedly noted in the Executive Committee. One of the most influential methods of fighting illegal trade is the forced dismantling of facilities. “At the beginning of work we were faced with the problem of migration of illegal kiosks. Now the problem began to lose its relevance due to the changes in the order of dismantling”, said the deputy head of the Executive Committee.

However, it was replaced by a new trick of unfair businessmen. Now unauthorized objects are migrating to the territory related to apartment buildings. But during the land control checking, responsibility for the fact of improper use of landfalls on the residents of the house, since the owner of an unauthorized object is often difficult to recognize. In addition, the local area is part of the property of apartment owners. In order to avoid numerous lawsuits and eradicate the problem, changes are being developed that are planned to be made to the improvement rules and the procedure for dismantling objects from house territories.

“Unfortunately, unauthorized street trading continues to be a problem. Together with law enforcement agencies, we are conducting regular system work on this and will continue to fight mud and unsanitary conditions for paying taxes and fair competition. Also, the laws of the city did not provide all leverages. In this regard, I appeal to the republican and federal authorities, deputies of the State Duma, who have the appropriate powers, with a request to help restore order in this sphere in the city. This is not only a question for Kazan, our surrounding areas, but it is also important for all municipalities of our country”, said I. Metshin.