Ukraine’s biggest book chain announces 2024 plan to expand to 100

Despite the daily Russian bombardments of civil infrastructure and residential areas, Bookstore Ye (Knyharnia Ye), Ukraine’s largest book chain with 57 current stores, plans to expand to 100 stores by the end 2024, as reported by Forbes Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian Book Institute, there are 461 bookstores in Ukraine as of Feb. 28th, 2024. 

Over the last year, Bookstore Ye saw its revenue double, reaching 823.3 million UAH (almost $21 million) across both offline and online stores, according to YouControl data. As reported earlier, in 2023, the book chain opened 22 new stores in different regions of Ukraine. 

Larysa Huzhvynsk, Director of Strategic Development at Bookstore Ye, attributed this growth opportunity to the ban on book imports from Russia and Belarus in 2023, as well as the shift in reading habits.

As for today, Bookstore Ye operates in various formats, including offline bookstores with or without presentation spaces, and online sales. It has yet to combine bookstore and cafe formats.

In addition to offering books in Ukrainian, Bookstore Ye provides 1,000 titles in English and plans to double this number by the end of this year. 

Copy editing: Mark Klenk, Terra Friedman King

Cover image: Bookstore Ye