Due to a sharp drop in demand, bookstores are closing en masse across Ukraine

People are stopping buying books, and bookstore owners are being forced to shut them down en masse.

This was stated on Facebook by Viktor Kruglov, head of the supervisory board of the publishing house RNK-Ranok.

“It has begun. Monthly bookstore closures. In March alone, six are gone. Bookstores in Vinnytsia and Kropyvnytskyi closed their doors for good. These bookstore-cafés opened in 2023 and 2024 on a wave of enthusiasm and promises of government support. Yakaboo is closing its only offline location in the Main Post Office on Khreshchatyk next week. Because of unprofitability, ArtBooks is shutting down its branded bookstore on Velyka Vasylkivska Street. Earlier, Knygoland closed its bookstore in the underground shopping center on Independence Square, and the future of the bookstore in Kyiv’s Rusanivka district is in question. The owner of the bookstore My Bookshelf also announced that it would cease operations, saying it had fulfilled its mission. Two other well-known chains, Ridyt and Sens, also reported million-level losses for the year,” Kruglov wrote.

According to him, the situation is no better for other book distributors. In January through March, the average purchase amount dropped by half. Whereas visitors used to buy three to five books at a time, now they buy one or two. As a result, publishers are offering huge discounts just to recover at least part of their invested funds.

“The next step will be a crisis of nonpayment to publishers, and then, down the chain, to printing houses. The industry is in great danger,” Kruglov warned.

He added that the law adopted in 2023 to support the publishing industry has still not begun to function.

MP Maksym Buzhansky reacted to the post. On his Telegram channel, he said that the publishers lamenting store closures “forget that they themselves welcomed the passage of the law banning the translation of foreign literature into Russian and its publication in Ukraine.”

“The law was passed, and the market lost half its customers — though in reality, I think about 70 percent, and everyone understands this perfectly well but is afraid to say it. Okay, unfortunately bookstores will keep closing, and no state support will save them, even if it existed,” Buzhansky wrote.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture has announced that it is preparing the legislative basis for a total ban in Ukraine on Russian and Russian-language literature.