Ukrainian team reopens their store in Bucha

Life is slowly returning to the city of Bucha, including the reopening of a JYSK store.

For many inside and outside Ukraine, the city name of Bucha has become connected with death and destruction during the Russian occupation.

Now, life is returning to the city located outside the capital of Kyiv, where residents are repairing roads and buildings to get the city up and running once again.

Some of them are Store Manager Igor Krasutskiy and his colleagues. They are busy repairing their damaged JYSK store for the reopening on Wednesday 1 June 2022.

Interview with the Store Manager

GOJYSK.com spoke to Igor about his experiences in the past few months and his expectations for the reopening.

How have your store operations worked since the invasion on 24 February?

“Our store has been closed since 24 February. The staff, including me, left our hometowns of Bucha, Irpin and Gostomel and moved to safe places with our families.”

What was it like to be back in the destroyed store?

“On the way to the store, I honestly had this fear: Maybe it is mined? And what will we find inside? Maybe terrible things remained after the occupation…

When I arrived and saw that the store was partially destroyed and completely looted, I felt sorry. This is a store that we built, prepared for the opening, invested a part of ourselves in, and that so many colleagues from other districts and the head office helped with.

But with each new visit, I became more and more convinced that we would rebuild the store and make it even better than it was.”

How did it feel to renovate the store?

“We are doing what we like to do again. Working on the recovery, we seem to be returning to a normal life – a life without the horrors of war. In general, after so many days without work, it is very nice to come back to it again.

We are happy to work together. Now that we have survived the occupation, we have a different attitude to simple things, such as returning to work processes, the opportunity to meet colleagues, who were in different parts of our country, and feel that we are important and needed.”

What do you look forward to the most when you reopen on 1 June?

“I expect that our customers will come and see that the store is working again. Now when I call customers, who placed orders before the war, I hear a lot of warm words. People are waiting for the opening, and they say they love our store. This will give many people the confidence that everything will return to normal life.”