Stephanie Kurschus: How long has the store been around?

Andreas Agopov: The company was founded in 1986. The store itself was in Pasila from the middle of the 1990s to 2004. Then we moved here. And the store in this location has been open from November 2004. Almost three years by now.

Stephanie Kurschus: How many employees do you have?

Andreas Agopov: 6 full time and 5 part time employees.

Stephanie Kurschus: What is your customer target group?

Andreas Agopov: We have several target groups. There are Russian speaking people living in Finland, Finnish speaking people who are interested in learning Russian and about Russia, companies that do business with Russia, universities, schools, music teachers and musicians and about everyone who is interested in Russia in any way. We sell our products all over the world. All these target groups are situated not only in Finland but all over the world, though the target groups from other countries than Finland are a little bit different. From Germany, for example, we have more private persons who want to listen to Russian music. Or Russians that have emigrated. Anybody who wants to learn about Russia will find products from our store. Our goal is not to sell Russian books and magazines only, but we sell books about Russia in English and in Finnish, too.

Stephanie Kurschus: So you also have an internet store?

Andreas Agopov: Yes. We do most of our business over the internet. The store here is a window for customers. If you have an internet-based business, it is better if you also have an open store instead of only having a closed office where no customer ever gets to you. Most of our employees do not work in the store but in the office for the internet shop.

Stephanie Kurschus: Just for the store here, how many customers do you get per day?

Andreas Agopov: We get an average of 30 to 50 customers per day. On the internet page we get about 3 000 clicks per day. A lot of our customers here at the Helsinki book store are regulars. They come to get the fresh newspaper, a new sheet music book for the next class or to take a look at what’s new in our store selection.

Stephanie Kurschus: Could you please describe the company’s development over the last years?

Andreas Agopov: We have experienced aggressive growth. For at least three years in a row (2004-2005-2006) we had a minimum of 25% growth. This growth is due to our growing customer base abroad – all from the internet shop – and our organizational customers; companies that do business with Russia and dealers of our products in other cities and countries. I do not have the figures for this year yet, but I would estimate that we reach a small growth in turnover this year but there will be more profit. Maybe about 20% more profit compared to 2006.

Stephanie Kurschus: How many titles are in your selection?

Andreas Agopov: 16 000 books. Additionally, we have some 4 500 sheet music titles, about 500 music titles and the same number of DVD movies. Plus, we have 5 400 subscription titles like newspapers and magazines and that’s about it.

Stephanie Kurschus: So what is your bestselling title?

Andreas Agopov: It depends. If you count the quantity of books sold, then it could be some newly released Russian literature title. But if we count in sales, then it would be some dictionary or it could be some rare old books that cannot be found in Russia anymore but which we have in our selection. The most money we make from a Russian-Finnish economical dictionary that was published by our company last year. If you consider the growth in the export-import relations of Finland and Russia, then this book is a very good product. Companies need it to do business. We had a print run of 2 000 copies. To sell it, we did different marketing campaigns. For all the effort we put in it, this should be the best selling title.

Stephanie Kurschus: Your company also publishes?

Andreas Agopov: We also publish, but not much. So far, we have published four books.

Stephanie Kurschus: What kind of advertising do you do?

Andreas Agopov: We send a catalogue to our customers once or twice a year. The catalogues are different, depending on which customer group gets it; one is in Russian as 70% of our customers speak Russian. We have a catalogue that is completely in Finnish but that is for titles that have to do with Russia like business guide books, dictionaries, translation software or maps. This catalogue is aimed at Finnish companies. Then there is the sheet music catalogue which is in English and send to customers abroad but also to some in Finland and Russia. But we trust that all our customers can read and understand it in English. Additionally, we do a lot of Email marketing. Every week some of our customers will get an Email with new offers. Then we do special offer days, where you get for example 20% off or free shipping on our products. We have divided our customers to different segments and for each segment one employee is responsible. We also do some phone marketing to our customers, whenever there is a current issue that needs to be discussed over the phone. Plus, we advertise in some magazines and newspapers as well as radio but only occasionally. We do a lot of internet advertising and our books are represented on the Amazon marketplace. We do a lot of marketing and advertising.

Stephanie Kurschus: Do you also have lectures or any other special events here in the store?

Andreas Agopov: We have not done that yet. The risk is too big of not having any visitors coming. We have had a guitarist and a poet, but the resonance has not been what we expected. We have been representing ourselves at the Helsinki Book Fair. The other fairs, like London or Frankfurt, we have not visited yet, because these are more for trading author rights which we do not do. We would like to get all the contacts but attending fairs is too expensive for us. Shipping books and equipment and renting a stand takes a lot of money.

Stephanie Kurschus: How would you describe the situation on the Finnish book market in general?

Andreas Agopov: I do not think that people will stop reading. The situation has changed in so far as that small book stores have gone bankrupt due to the shifting of the private customer business to the internet. Before the internet book store, a customer would go to a small store and ask for a book that was not in their selection. They would order it for him and then he would come and buy it. But today, the customer orders the book himself and he does not have to go to pick it up. There is no room in the market for small stores anymore. We are developing our internet shop and see our future quite bright. Nothing in the book sector is going to stagnate, but it is developing in different directions.