Interview with Oleksiy Yuzefiv, TM BLEST dealer in Uzhhorod and Vinnytsia

Oleksiy Yuzefiv - co-owner of BLEST stores in Uzhgorod and Vinnytsia, dealer of BLEST products since 2010

Oleksiy, please tell me when and how did your journey as an entrepreneur begin? What motivated you to work for yourself and what was your first business?

My first business was an insurance company, where I was the head of the property insurance department and at the same time opened my own PE (private enterprise) and independently engaged in insurance as such. I had flows of clients, there were several banks in my "portfolio", and I served these banks not without success. My business developed successfully and rapidly, but it all ended in one moment. Because lending to the population by banks stopped in 2008, at the first round of the financial crisis. At this moment, many had to rebuild. And Artur and I, too (Artur Hnatkovich is a business partner of Oleksiy Yuzefiev, co-owner of furniture stores in Uzhhorod and Vinnytsia). We have known each other for a long time, since university days and, besides, we worked together in an insurance company.

In 2010, Artur needed furniture for his apartment, and he couldn't find a sofa in Uzhhorod, everything else was already there, but there was no way with a sofa. This prompted us to go to Kyiv (I was in the role of an assistant), and we started looking for a store in the capital where we could find the sofa we needed. Once we got to the shopping center, we walked around it: in one shopping hall we liked one sofa, in another - another, in the third exhibition hall we liked another sofa... And there was no such showroom where we liked a lot what I liked one product and then, these were compromise options. Yes, after passing a certain number of furniture stores, we got to BLEST, where we started to like absolutely everything. We walked around the store several times, Artur had already chosen a sofa for himself, and word for word, we decided - if we have this demand for sofas, why is there no offer in Uzhhorod? Artur and I consider ourselves aesthetes, so if we liked this furniture, this brand, then, most likely, others will like it too.

This is how this idea was born, to work with BLEST. We met Vitaly (Vitaly Storozh - at that time the head of the dealer network), he convinced us that BLEST is also a reliable partner. We were sent a commercial offer, we found a retail outlet, it was 120 m2, together with the utility room, about 100 m2 remained for the showroom. And so in 2010, on October 18, if I remember correctly, we opened our first store. This is how we came to work with the BLEST brand.

You mentioned that you and Artur studied together at the university. Interested in finding out who you are by education?

I am also interested in remembering who I am by education! I am an international economist. Graduated from the Uzhgorod National University with a degree in "International Economics" - specialist in international economics and a translator-referent. Arthur included. By the way, I still use the knowledge I gained. By profession, none of us probably works, because the number of diplomats and translation officers is usually limited and is passed from hand to hand. Therefore, entering this faculty, I did not even entertain the thought that I would be a diplomat one day.

I have always loved entrepreneurship! I have been selling packages since I was a child. I was, I think, 9 years old, I bought bags for 25 kopecks and sold them for 50. It was a good business for a child! But university education trained my mind: I have a good understanding of economic theory, I loved higher mathematics... And this somehow taught me to think and reason correctly. And, in my opinion, the understanding of cause-and-effect relationships is formed precisely in a higher educational institution. The school cannot cope with such a task. For good mental development, you need to be in a university environment. I was lucky, I was in a circle of like-minded people, we could discuss for hours, for example, the status of Bolivia in the world oil market... And being in such circles leaves its mark and helps to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Perhaps if I had graduated from the humanities, I would not have reached this level of thinking. In addition, I studied English, and I really needed it at international furniture exhibitions. And this is my advantage, because while I communicate at the exhibitions, my other colleagues dealing with upholstered furniture in Uzhhorod come to the exhibitions just to look.

Sale of upholstered furniture, agree, is a rather conservative business. You mentioned that you decided to deal with upholstered furniture, first of all, because of your own need and realized that other people may also have this demand. And at the same time, you two young, progressive and energetic people, maybe you could try yourself in something else? Tell me, what was the main factor in choosing in favor of organizing a business with upholstered furniture?

Business is when you don't have to go to work, and I go to work every day! Arthur and I looked closely at the business we could do. And one of the options was the representation of any brands. This is when you buy something cheaper and sell it more expensive, given that it is not represented in our region. And regarding the conservatism of sales of upholstered furniture... Perhaps it only looks like this now. Let's remember that it was 2010: phones did not take pictures then, many things were different. And at that moment, BLEST furniture in Uzhhorod looked very "fresh". And there are a lot of young people in Uzhhorod, they come to live here and stay. And when I start doing something, it always has an element of romance for me. Yes, I calculated the risks. But he was sure that good furniture would find its customers and sell well. When we started working, we studied the market, the competitive environment... And I believed that something good will always find its fans, I was sure that this project would "shoot" sooner or later! And Artur and I decided to start our business, our trade with something beautiful.

Oleksiy, I can't help but ask about the store in Vinnytsia... Explain to our readers how you decided to open the largest store among the entire BLEST network, invest serious resources in it and do it in Vinnytsia, which is not the largest and not the richest city of Ukraine?

You know, I've been living with this store for a while now, got used to it and consider it just normal. I already talked about this when Artur and I started renovating the still empty store: there was no floor, no ceiling, no walls. And we put up the first wall panels with Artur, there are a lot of them, about 600 m2, and when we put the first three plates, I said to Artur: "Look! How beautiful, look how beautiful it is!" Just three plates on the wall caused me such delight!.. There was nothing else. Now that everything is in place, I've lived with it, I've kept this store inside me for three days, and now it seems just normal to me. I don't fully share the excitement and excitement surrounding this store, but I understand it, because I went through it too. I just don't see how BLEST can be any different?

And speaking of the fact that our choice fell on neither the largest nor the richest city of Ukraine, Artur and I had no idea how to make the store different. Arthur and I are uncompromising in this regard: we will either do it perfectly or we will not do it at all. Half-measures are not acceptable for me or for Artur. To be honest, we did not have a question to make the store easier. We had a question, how not to overdo it. How not to make it uncomfortable for people to enter BLEST, as in a salon in some expensive Italy. Agree, many people even find it psychologically difficult to enter, for example, a Bentley or Ferrari car dealership. We wanted people to feel comfortable buying BLEST and, accordingly, walking into a place where it is sold. In other words, the task was not to overdo it. And this applies to any city. If we had a suitable square in Uzhgorod, rest assured, the store would be the same. BLEST is a brand that is worthy of stores like the one in Vinnytsia.

And if we return to the conversation about the city of Vinnytsia itself, then we studied it, selected several key parameters for ourselves. By the way, in the magazine "Focus" there is a study in which regional centers are compared according to, it seems, 17 different factors that affect the level of happiness of the population. Such as crime, education, medicine, investment attractiveness, real estate value, wages and so on. And Vinnytsia, in my opinion, was in first place for five years in a row. And if you compare the same Vinnytsia with Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, then Vinnytsia has always been higher than them in the ranking. Therefore, we are sure that Vinnytsia fully deserves to have a high-quality, cool BLEST salon with a full showcase. We assume that the people in the city, which is 370,000 people, who will be looking for furniture, will bypass all the stores. We are in a large shopping center and we will be compared with others. If you are head and shoulders above your competitors, you can claim the lion's share of buyers. If the store is mediocre, then your fate is to catch a random customer. Or sell window samples - here and now pack the sofa and deliver it to the client. "Show off" some such categories. And if you have a good store, a large window, a quality team, then you will inevitably be successful in any case. At least we count on it.

In today's conditions of a pandemic, the constant danger of quarantine, in addition to the short history of the store itself, the "off-season" in addition, it is natural that it is too early to draw any global conclusions. However, I would like to know, are you and Artur satisfied with the results that the store in Vinnytsia is currently showing? Given how many resources, efforts, and experiences were invested in it. Did you feel satisfied?

Good question... Look, we closed 4 BLEST stores in Uzhhorod. Now we are in the fifth. At first it was 100 m2, then 200, 300 "squares", then an additional 200 m2 in Mukachevo... At one point, there were 3 BLEST stores in Uzhhorod at the same time. And this evolution has led us to a certain format. And it differs from the format currently offered by the managing office of BLEST in Kyiv, which implies that the store can be from 200 m2. While working with clients, we understood that the store should be from 400 "squares". And this is the minimum. I say so, and if I say "I", I mean, of course, Arthur and me. Now we have 420 "squares" in Uzhgorod and we want much more, because everything does not fit. We are currently drawing a new project for a store in Uzhgorod: with new lighting, new decor... So that the store in Uzhgorod is on par with the one in Vinnytsia, and we don't have much space. For us, the main problem is how to place the entire large BLEST line: old proven bestsellers and a large number of new products.

Having implemented the last option of stores in Uzhhorod in 2018, we succeeded very well in this. Including financially. Everything was great. When you do only good, and do nothing bad, then it brings results. For example, we monitor all complaints: we call customers, even a year after the purchase, and we monitor any hidden complaints and are interested in the customer's opinion about points that, perhaps, he is not ready to express in person, but can inform us over the phone. We remove all these complaints. And thanks to this, we have a positive reputation in Uzhhorod.

Our salon in Vinnytsia is even better than the one we built in Uzhhorod 3 years ago. And this evolution is so motivating that it gives strength, even when it seems that now is not the best time to open new stores. And this feeling of satisfaction, and now I speak for myself, it is caused not so much by the revenue, but more by the fact that we implemented a very ambitious project. And, by the way, the revenue is also not bad. This store, this project, for Artur and I, in any case, is a big investment, a large amount of work that we did on our own: design, selection of materials, my wife sewed curtains, we independently ordered the cutting of slabs, developed the design of the shelves... Everything was made by hand. For example, they decided to make a showcase there, although it was not there from the very beginning. Landlords wondered: "Why do you need it?". We say: "It is necessary!", "Well, do it..." Every little thing like that now gives us the strength to think and develop further.

And if we talk about satisfaction, especially aesthetically, then I am definitely satisfied! As an esthete. I love it. One of my close friends once told me: "Lyosha, don't look for what you like in your Uzhhorod salon. Look for what you DON'T like and think about how it can be improved." And now in Vinnytsia I notice moments that in the next salon, and there will definitely be one, I will do even better. So now, the aesthetic side is 100% satisfied, the economic side is at the stage of satisfaction.

We assumed that now might not be the best time to start investing. It was a big and responsible step for me and for Artur. I will not say that it was too risky, because the same wall panels or laminate can be used in another store, sofas from the window can always be sold easily, because BLEST furniture is very liquid. That is, we understood that we would be able to get out of the situation. In conclusion, if we touch on the economic side, then yes, we are also satisfied with it.

During the interview, you repeatedly mentioned that you still have plans... If it's not a secret, tell us what goals you set for yourself this year? Are the pandemic and quarantine making adjustments to them?

Pandemic and crisis never hinder development. Do you understand what our happiness is? I recently spoke with a friend from Canada, he says that people there walk like zombies. They do not understand what is happening, it is difficult for them, they are scared... They have never been in a similar situation, for them it is an extreme shock. They are closed, businesses are closed, people declare themselves bankrupt. And this feeling of instability, it simply destroys people's happiness. We, Ukrainians, have stress in our blood. I think many people remember queues for milk, cut-off coupons instead of money, denomination... In 2002, the dollar jumped from 2 hryvnias to 5, and then to 8... Then to 12, 16, 25... And how in 2008, due to the banking crisis and the impossibility of lending, our apartments, which cost 60,000 dollars, began to cost 30,000?... And also how in the 14th year the war started and everything stopped, any development?. Everyone remembers it. And what is happening now, when we, Ukrainians, were closed for a year - this is not the same stress as for the rest of the world, where there was stability and prosperity. Therefore, in my case, I do not think that something is going wrong. Everything is going as it has always been. If we are used to it, then it is already normal for us.

You need to look for something positive in everything. The fact that we have now been closed for a year has helped me to improve my knowledge a little, to review my work, to think about what I really want to develop in terms of opening new stores. And if it wasn't for this pause, I wouldn't have been able to develop like that.

I would be absorbed in the routine, working moments and I would not have time to look at everything from the outside.

Let's get away from work now. Tell us what your hobbies are, what do you like to do in your free time? What gives you positive emotions and pleasant memories?

I have vivid impressions and memories from exhibitions in Milan and Cologne... And my hobby is basketball. I have been playing amateur basketball for a long time and this is the joy that brings me back from some stress.

I like to take pictures. And I understand that if you are not good at something, you can learn everything. Absolutely everything. You can even develop a taste. I used to not know how to take pictures. I was shooting a sofa, and I didn't like it in the photo. And I realized that to take good photos, you just have to learn. And now I'm starting to like the photos I take for the salon.

Now I am still studying architecture, design and design programs. And this, too, will later become my hobby or even a new profession. I am currently looking for a higher education institution where I can study remotely, not in Ukraine, and I would like to deepen my knowledge in architecture and design. It is very interesting. And I understand that if I have spied something somewhere or understand intuitively, then I already lack it. Fundamental knowledge is lacking. I found what I want to do, so I will find time and resources for it. Now I attend photography courses and workshops. Architecture and design nurture taste. For me, all this has an applied nature, for example, in the work on the design of salons.

You talked about design, so the question will be logical: from 2020, the chief designer of BLEST, Domenico Larato, announced the beginning of a revolution in the design of the company's products. No more rectangular shapes, more sofas will be on high legs, with high backs, with new transformation mechanisms and so on... How do you personally assess the progress of this revolution? Does Domenico succeed? How do your customers rate the new products?

If we remember the times when Softi became Softi new, Techni became Techni new, and Tutti sofa became Tutti new, then it was, in a way, replicas of ourselves, one could even say "stomping in place". When we told our customers that a new model had come out, and they answered that: "Ah, it's the puffs that have appeared?", then the customers were somehow right. Now, with Domenico's return to the company, the renewal process has accelerated significantly. Domenico has already changed a lot, and I'm sure he will do a lot more. And this is definitely positive.

For example, the Barcelona sofa. It's very unusual for our customers and I honestly don't see it as a main sofa in our customer's home. It is like a convertible - the second or third car in the family. Barcelona is not the sofa that will bring the whole family together. For our customers, it is the avant-garde. Artur and I understand that there is furniture that is sold, and there is furniture that sells. So, Barcelona is a sofa that helps sell other models. The client sees Barcelona and understands that this brand knows how and can make very interesting, unusual products. Yes, the client will most likely choose a more conservative model, but the bright Barcelona will definitely help him distinguish the BLEST brand for himself.

I very much wish Domenico success in the development and creation of new models. You see, Italians and foreigners, due to a long period of relative stability, have developed the ability to feel and see beauty better, to be inspired by forms, to draw them from nature and then to embody them in furniture or object design. It is clear that with the return of Domenico, BLEST took a big leap forward.

Oleksii, at the end of the conversation, it is very interesting to know from you what human qualities you value most in people: in work, in friendship, in family relations?... What do you pay most attention to when forming your team and your social circle?

For work, and this is what we have already understood for ourselves, involvement is important for forming a successful team. If you are involved in the results of work, if you are ready to close yourself and a friend, then there will be success. And if you just do the work according to the job description, then it can be quite mediocre. We are focused on the result and try to select the same personnel. If we feel that the person is good, but there is no involvement, then we are most likely not on the right track. And of course, what can be called fundamental are life values. It is important that the values ​​are the same.

I was lucky with my partner, with Artur: I start a sentence - he finishes. We see each other more than our families. We have been working together for 20 years, and we still respect and trust each other. And I hope that if he gave this interview, he would say the same thing. He and I have the same values, we have the same education, which allows us to have the same coordinate system. In our case, it is trust and honesty. We have areas of activity where I do not delve deeply, there are areas where he completely trusts me. I repeat, we were very lucky with him.

In principle, one value system is important in people. Then you will have fun together. If you see different roads on the achievement of one goal, and in this respect I am impressed by the opinion of Yevgeny Chichvarkin (Russian businessman, founder of Euroset, currently living in London), he said that one can reach the same goal in different ways. One may be longer, but more beautiful; the other is shorter, may be simpler, but may not be beautiful or dishonest. But our whole life is a road to the goal, so there is no need to fill it with ugly things, deeds and actions. It is important to get satisfaction on the way to the goal.

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