The changes in the range of products, importers, prices and availability are illustrated below.
Central stores of four leading in Russia retail networks have been investigated. They are Karavan (Penza local retail chain), Dva Gusya (chain of Penza Commercial Alliance), Perekrestok (Russian Federal Retail chain) and SPAR (Dutch retail chain); all located in the city of Penza.
KARAVAN (Penza Local Retail Chain)
Range-wise, in the stores of this chain the embargo has come unnoticed for the customers. There is hardly any fruit or vegetable that the locals would not be able to find in the stores. Even, the cauliflower that has been recently considered extinct, is available at a reasonable price (1.3 EUR/kg), production of Russia.
However, there are still plenty of fruit and vegetables imported from the European Union: grapes from the Netherlands, apples from France and Germany, nectarines from Spain
Nevertheless, many products have been substituted by imported from other countries. However, some of new fruit and vegetables do not look very attractive, e.g. the kiwi from Iran, or pears from Argentina.
DVA GUSYA (Penza Commercial Alliance)
This supermarket presents a wide range of local domestic products that are cheaper than imported ones, usually in high demand and of better taste. However, are subject to season.
Due to different suppliers, the prices of imported products differ a lot from the previous shop, where Iranian kiwifruit and lemons cost 1.6 Euro/kg and 2.3 Euro/kg respectively. Here the imported from Turkey nice-looking kiwis cost 4.6 Euro/kg and slightly bigger lemons - 3.9 Euro/kg.
PEREKRESTOK (Russian Federal Retail Chain)
In Perekrestok the difference in the range of products is obvious. The first thing that catches the eye is the variety of exotic fruit and vegetables: from Chilean pineapples to Chinese pomelo.
Alongside with carefully and beautifully organized domestic production (which is not produced in Penza, but in other regions of Russia).
SPAR (Dutch Retail Chain)
In SPAR the contrast of prices is quite high. One could hardly find any fresh production from embargoed countries. The majority imported from Europe fruit and vegetables are substituted by supplies from Serbia, Morocco, Turkey, Uzbekistan.
Red stamps on the price tags inform the customers of the price reduction that can be spotted on a significant number of goods. For example, the sultana grapes from Turkey now cost 1.1 Euro/kg, which saves you 0.2 Euro. The difference in price and measure units is well-demonstrated below in the example with garlic. Three bulbs of Chinese garlic cost 0.37 Euro, whereas a kilo of Russian garlic costs 1.8 Euro.
Note: 1 Russian Ruble = 0.02 EURO