PMR's largest taxpayer doubles supermarket size in Rybnitsa

Shoppers in Rybnitsa, in northern Pridnestrovie, mass the new checkout lines at the city's second Sheriff supermarket

RYBNITSA (Tiraspol Times) - Just like in Soviet times, consumers in Pridnestrovie are standing in line to buy food and basic necessities. But now some of them, in the city of Rybnitsa, have eight lines to stand in instead of the previous four in the Sheriff Supermarket #2 in that city.

Pridnestrovie's largest supermarket chain, Sheriff, threw open the doors to a remodelled and enlarged supermarket in Rybnitsa, in the northern part of the new and emerging country.

Sheriff is Pridnestrovie's second largest company, after the MMZ steel factory, and the largest in terms of income tax payments. Although MMZ is larger in size and turnover, Sheriff pays more tax due to a higher number of employees. Sheriff currently employs 14,000 workers compared to less than half at the highly industrialized MMZ plant. For 2006, Sheriff paid 31.3 million dollars to the budget of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica (PMR), representing 11.2% of the republic's direct tax income.

Sheriff's second Rybnitsa-based supermarket has been re-inaugurated at twice its previous size. Eight checkout lines are now operating in this supermarket. The product line has been expanded, too, and now stocks some eight thousand different brand names of products for sale.

Inauguration day saw more than five thousand local citizens come through the door to check out the supermarket and taste some free cake. All kids got balloons and free chocolate, and babies under one received a stuffed toy as the store's gift.

With 83,000 inhabitants, Rybnitsa is Pridnestrovie's fourth-largest city after the capital Tiraspol (160,000), Bender (105,000) and Slobozya (95,000); all of which are located in the south of the country.

Policy of re-investing in Pridnestrovie

Sheriff was founded in 1993 and has a policy of investing its profits in Pridnestrovie in order to grow its marketshare locally. Its supermarket division employs approximately three thousand workers, and the number grows to fourteen thousand when all companies in the Sheriff group are included. Sheriff has been the winning bidder on a number of recent privatizations and its holdings now include TV and radio stations, gas stations, a car dealership, and Kvint, Pridnestrovie's 110 year old wine and brandy exporter.

The company has close commercial relations with Ukraine, Russia, Estonia, Germany, the USA, the Czech republic, Poland, Hungary, Holland, Argentina, Brazil, Spain and a number of other countries. It has seven supermarkets in major cities throughout the length of Pridnestrovie, and a number of "Metro" / "Makro" type wholesale stores and markets as well.

The company was founded by an ethnic Ukrainian from Pridnestrovie, its current CEO and president Viktor Gushan, and the Moldovan-born Ilya Kazmaly (of Gagauzian ethnic origin).

Despite accusations to the contrary, the company is not owned by the family of president Igor Smirnov. Such claims have consistently been denied by Igor Smirnov as well as his son Vladimir Smirnov, and Moldpres (the state news agency of Moldova) points to what it calls "political and economic strife between Sheriff's owners and the government of Transnistia".

In recent years, Sheriff developed ties with the largest opposition party, Renewal, a political party which currently holds a parliamentary majority. Ilya Kazmaly and the company's human resources director, Ilona Tyuryaeva, are both Renewal-deputies in parliament.

See also:
» Large construction projects fuel local economy

On the web:
» Sheriff company profile

Standing in line: Eight checkout lines now operate in Sheriff's Supermarket #2, Rybnitsa


All products are priced in Pridnestrovie's own national currency, the PMR Ruble


Communism redux: 8,000 different brand names are for sale in the supermarket, including home appliances. Pridnestrovie has lower taxes than its neighbor Moldova, so most items are cheaper here


Like in Soviet times? Standing in line to buy food in Rybnitsa, PMR


"I-heart-Me": Young shoppers take home an iron of the 'Vitek'-brand. Many of the home appliances from this Russian importer come from Taiwan, another "de facto" republic which, just like Pridnestrovie, has no UN membership and suffers from a broad lack of international diplomatic recognition.


Packaging bananas. The supermarket chain imports products from nearly 100 countries, including Brazil and number of African countries. The Sheriff chain also owns a football team contract players from Brazil, Argentina and some African states.


A young shopper with balloon on inauguration day


Fresh produce on display in the so-called "black hole of Europe" and what its opponents also say is "the last Stalinist bastion of Communism." Might they perhaps be wrong?