LARGE STORES KILL SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES -CONSUMER WATCHDOG

YEREVAN, March 16. / ARKA /. The emergence of supermarkets leads
to death of small and medium-sized businesses, according to Armen
Poghosyan, the head of the Association of Armenian Consumers.

Speaking at a news conference today he said shopping malls and big
stores in the country are constructed in places where free space is
available by ignoring other factors.

As an example he pointed out four big shopping centers built next to
one another in a downtown street in Yerevan which means that small
and medium-sized shops will not be able to exist in their neighborhood.

According to him, there is no urban planning at all ‘because urban
planning is not only construction of buildings, but also proper
distribution of labor and material assets.”

He said big supermarkets should be built outside downtown areas,
while small shops should be within walking distance next to each
residential house.

“In big cities small stores on 15 square meters and big stores on
15500 square meters are cost-effective,’ said Poghosyan. He said
large supermarkets should not be built in small towns because of
little population.

According to the National Statistical Service, in late 2014 there
were 12,786 stores in Armenia (76.8% of all shopping facilities, a 1%
increase from the previous year) with a turnover of 1.080 trillion
drams (a 2.9% rise from 2013). Yerevan had 8,149 stores which accounted
for 964, 8 billion drams of the total turnover.

The number of micro stores (with up to 5 employees) increased last year
by 1.3% to 11,597 with the turnover of 197.6 billion drams (up 5.6%),
while the number of small shops (6-15 employees) decreased by 5 7%
to 701 with the turnover of 129.5 billion drams (a decline of 9%).

The number of medium-sized stores (16-30 employees) increased by 7.7%
to 168 with the turnover of 70.7 billion drams (a decline of 3.8%),
and the number of large stores (31 people or more) increased by 5. 1%
to 163 with the turnover of 682.1 billion drams (a growth of 5.4%). ($
1 – 481.28 drams). -0-