Our journalist found out how travelling trade works in the remote villages of the region and how much it meets the needs of the villagers during this difficult time.

On the road!

At 8–9 a.m., at the warehouse on Pionerskaya Street in Schuchin, you can see the entire fleet of car dealerships. Vans, large and small, washed on the outside, disinfected from the inside, are preparing to hit the road on routes, loaded with groceries and everyday goods. Sellers lay out the goods on the shelves, put it on the windows.

- Every day we send eleven car dealerships along eleven routes, says Svetlana Kovalchuk, a leading merchandiser at the Schuchinsky branch. Each of them passes 12-15 settlements, where there are no rural shops. We carry everything we need to our customers, the assortment of car shops does not differ from that in stationary retail outlets: 200–250 items of goods, about twenty promotional items.

In connection with the pandemic, masks and antibacterial hand gels appeared in the assortment. And the store on wheels began to stop more often - so that there were fewer crowds. He comes to every village twice a week. In large, where more than 70 inhabitants - three times.

The coveted hoot of a car shop

The car’s loud signal informs the inhabitants of the village of Pretima that the car shop has arrived. Some villagers are already waiting, standing on the sidelines.



According to their standard list, a social worker Dina Divulskaya is purchased, followed by Nadezhda Budilovich. They take mainly milk, bread, rolls, cereals, eggs. Many purchases are made by the oldest resident of the village of Jozef Karpuk. Despite her 89 years, her grandmother is vigorous and copes with shopping very well.



- What would we do without our car shop ?! They reason. Here is everything that your heart desires. And the seller is very good, attentive, respectful.



In the village of Pretima stretching for four kilometers, the car shop makes not one, but three stops. In the center of the village, near a non-residential building, a group of elderly women is waiting for a car shop.



-For us, every arrival of the car shop is an event, notes Alexandra Zmitrukevich. - An opportunity not only to buy products, but also to meet, discuss the latest news.



After another stop, the car shop leaves for the villages of Beregovets and Tureisk. This time the most brisk trade is in Tureisk.



- For almost ten years of work in the car shop, I met all my customers, says the seller Lyudmila Kovalevskaya. I know everyone by name, I worry if someone doesn’t come shopping. In small villages I am greeted as a dear guest, share news, make a wide variety of requests. It is important to become a friend for every customer.



- And if there is no necessary product? - I'm interested

-We will definitely bring it in a couple of days, says Lyudmila. For this there is a special magazine, we record all applications there, we transfer the merchandiser. We deliver to the villagers on order and cement, nails, pies, cakes, household appliances.



On this day, the shop on wheels No. 7, which I followed, visited ten settlements. Thanks to all the auto shops of the Shchuchinsky branch of the regional consumer goods, fresh products hit the table to the residents of 120 villages of Shchuchinsky.



The crew is one link

The driver and seller are a real crew. They work in close conjunction, and it is difficult to say who is more important.

-The driver should not only know the route perfectly, but also help to load the van, stop in places convenient for trade, open a window, says driver Pavel Baloban.



Pavel has been working in a store on wheels recently. Before him, the steering wheel of this car was turned by Joseph Zhuk for many years, which was recently spent on a well-deserved rest. Staff turnover in stores on wheels, by the way, is practically nonexistent.



Car dealerships invariably follow their routes in any weather at all times of the year. Return to base late in the evening. On the sixth route, which runs through the May Day zone, to the most remote village 75 kilometers.

And in the morning - again on the road. The villagers are waiting ...

The future is in outbound trade

The average monthly turnover of all automobile stores in Shchuchinsky district is 255 thousand rubles, one on average accounts for 23.2 thousand rubles per month. The growth rate of commodity circulation is 107.1 percent. The highest rate in car shop No. 5 is with seller Natalya Vasko, car shops No. 11 and No. 7 are slightly inferior - sellers Yanina Sinitsa and Lyudmila Kovalevskaya.

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