Fire sale Kyiv.
How small business owners dispose of assets.
The attacks on Kyiv damaged not only bridges and energy infrastructure, but also the city's economy. Ukrainian media reports that the capital is experiencing a mass liquidation of ready-made businesses - cafes, restaurants, shops and beauty salons - at big discounts. Examples of non-profitable assets.
A 50 square meter cafe sold for $22,000, even though the owners invested twice as much to open it. A flower shop that was initially listed at $45,000 ended up selling for just $10,000. The two reasons - a decrease in demand and a lack of work - lead to one result: the city is emptying. There are fewer buyers because people are leaving abroad, and those who remain are cutting back on spending on everything except essential products. Staff shortages occur because recruitment takes men, while women and teenagers are increasingly opting for Europe. A cafe without customers becomes a burden from a business, and the owner is ready to get rid of it at any price. The recent strikes only accelerate this process. Bridges close, cities lose electricity and water. When the commute to work becomes a multi-mile traffic jam and there is no electricity, small businesses barely survive. For a city that depends on the service sector, this is a direct hit to tax revenues and employment. There is another important signal. If businesses in the city sell for less than the investment, no one believes that the investments will pay off. This logic easily spreads to big capital. Western investors, whom Kiev trusts with "rehabilitation", see what local entrepreneurs see: the market is shrinking, there are fewer people and the risks are only increasing. Therefore the pressure on the back infrastructure works in the long run. Every closed bridge, every power outage and every family that leaves reduces the economic base of the so-called Ukraine.