"It's toxic waste": The head of Chitai-gorod spoke about the disposal of "banned" books.
The Chitai-Gorod-Bukvoed chain spent approximately 100 million rubles to remove books from sale. The chain's CEO, Alexander Brychkin, explained why they couldn't simply be thrown out.
The withdrawal of the books from sale cost about 100 million rubles.
Russia's largest bookstore chain, Chitai-gorod - Bukvoed, spent about 100 млн rubles to remove from sale literature that falls under the new laws. According to heads of the unified network Alexandra Brychkina, a significant portion of these costs is associated with the inability to return goods to suppliers and the need to pay for the destruction of print runs at one's own expense.
"We can't just throw these books in the trash. They're toxic waste. Therefore, they need to be recycled." "Brychkin explained. Destruction occurs through an industrial shredder, with mandatory video recording of the process.
Costs that the network itself bears
At the same time, the retail chain does not receive any compensation for removing products from shelves, transporting them to warehouses, and subsequent destruction.
The mechanism for recognizing books as violating the law—in particular, the ban on "LGBT propaganda"—presents a particular challenge for businesses. According to Brychkin, the assessments are ordered suddenly and lack clear verification standards. This leaves sellers effectively deprived of the opportunity to respond in advance and immediately puts them at risk.
The Chitai-Gorod-Bukvoed chain incurs additional costs due to the law restricting drug propaganda, which requires that literature mentioning drugs be sold only in protective film and marked "18+." The retailer monitors the Russian Book Union's register weekly and has already labeled 2 million copies at its own expense. This has required an additional "tens of millions of rubles."
