Shoe Shopping, Inflation, and the Demise of Dobryak

The last time I was in Russia was in 2000. One of the things that stood out to me was how cheap and affordable everything was to me, as an American accustomed to American prices. At the time I was living in St. Petersburg (with St. Pete and Moscow being substantially more expensive than smaller Russian cities). Six years later, something that has struck me is how expensive things are in Vladimir. I have a bit of a weakness for shoes. For years now I have been perfectly willing to buy the bulk of my clothes from yardsales and thrift stores. This isn’t to say that I don’t occasionally splurge and buy something new, but it has to be something pretty incredible. But shoes…. I’m always willing to shell out for shoes. I’ve written a good bit about how Russians dress, but in case you’ve forgotten my Russian-shoe-assessments, let me just reiterate: Russian women’s shoes are incredible in a hot and sexy kinda way. Not necessarily comfortable or practical, but definitely hot. I bought a lot of shoes when I lived in St. Petersburg. The most expensive pair I bought cost me 900 rubles, and I agonized over whether or not it was worth it to shell out that much dough. I bought a pair of kickass, fur-lined winter boots and a pair of fur-lined winter shoes, each for around 450 rubles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find said shoes when I was getting ready to come back to Russia, but I figured that in rural Vladimir they wouldn’t cost me too much. Well, the cheapest fur-lined winter boots in my size that I could run down in rural, cheaper-than-Peter Vladimir cost me 1800 rubles. My foolish gothic-bondage-porusskie boots were over 2000. (Okay granted, I bought some lime green sneakers for 330, but they are so *not* Russian-looking that they were probably on sale for being “uncool” even though I think they are awesome.) I’ve noticed that there’s been an increase of prices across the board here in Russia, and from what I’ve heard, salaries haven’t been keeping pace with inflation.

Dobryak is a huge shopping complex where (alas) I have spent far too much money. While in the States I’m all about thrift stores and yardsales, you simply can’t find the kind of clothing in malls in the States that you can find in Russia. It’s so unusual and absolutely awesome that I can justify buying the stuff by calling it a souvenir. Dobryak is generally my downfall, as it has a huge selection and is cheaper than most stores in the city. We were there last Saturday, and I saw two very cheap sweaters that I planned to come back and purchase after payday. Payday was yesterday, so this morning I swung by Dobryak on my way to work. It was empty. I don’t mean empty of customers, or even empty of goods… even the stalls which had been erected to display said goods were missing. Dobryak is undergoing a huge renovation. Soon it will be a fancier, more up-scale place to shop. This leaves me wondering where those who used to shop at Dobryak will now shop. Can they really afford the increase in prices that will inevitably accompany this renovation? And what happens to those who worked there?