After the stores of the Russian discount chains Svetofor and MERE, the Russian retail chain Fix Price is coming to Serbia. Russians in Serbia have built their own ecosystem that includes Russian schools, kindergartens, IT companies and performances by Russian artists that are visited exclusively by Russian citizens, and Russian markets have become the "hubs" of that community.
Russian the Fix Price retail chain plans to open its first stores in Serbia in the first quarter of 2026, the company announced. With this, Serbia joins the list of markets where this discount chain is expanding its operations.
The arrival of Fix Price follows the entry of other Russian discount brands into the Serbian market, such as Svetofor and MERE.
The political and social background of the expansion of Russian markets in Serbia is inextricably linked with the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the specific position of Serbia in international relations.
The expansion of Russian markets in Serbia was primarily supported by mass emigration Russian to Serbia since their home country attacked Ukraine in 2022.
According to some estimates, more than 300.000 Russian citizens entered Serbia because of that war, and although most of them moved on, according to unofficial data, more than 50.000 of them have active permits to stay in Serbia.
This new, very able-to-pay community created a huge demand for authentic Russian products that Serbian chains did not offer. The need for authentic Russian products stems from the more complex and extensive need of Russian citizens to create their own "parallel universe" in Serbia and lead lives that do not have too many points of contact with the social circumstances in Serbia.
Thus, in addition to trade, Russian citizens in Serbia have also created a kind of social platform, so, for example, in Belgrade not infrequent performances by Russian artists attended exclusively by Russian citizens.
Russians in Serbia have built their own ecosystem that includes Russian schools, kindergartens, IT companies, and Russian markets have become "hubs" of that community, well shops they are not only shopping places, but also places where emigrants feel "at home", buying products that have become unavailable in the rest of Europe due to sanctions.
The expansion of Russian markets is a product of Serbia's neutral policy and avoiding the introduction of sanctions against Russia, and the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić he often boasts that Serbia is the only European country that has not imposed sanctions on Russia.
This enabled Russian trade chains such as Svetofor and MERE to operate and import goods smoothly. While the stores of those chains are closed on the market Of the European Union, Serbia served them as a safe haven for capital and expansion in the Balkans.
The background of the expansion of Russian markets in Serbia is further complicated by the pressure of Russian ownership in large Serbian companies, primarily in The oil industry of Serbia. Intensive negotiations on the exit of the Russians from the ownership of NIS due to EU sanctions created the need to strengthen some kind of presence of Russian capital in other, less sensitive sectors such as retailing of consumer goods.
According to the data of the Agency for Business Registers, Fix Price registered its daughter company Fix Price RS in September. The Serbian company is fully owned by Fix Price Group Plc, which is registered in Kazakhstan, writes eKapija.
The company states that Fix Price has already opened an office in Serbia and formed a regional team, which created the conditions for the start of operations on the domestic market.
It was announced in March of this year that the Fix Price chain, known for selling goods at fixed prices, is preparing to enter the Serbian market.
Fix Price opened its first store in 2007, and today operates through a network of around 7.700 stores in ten markets.
That retail chain is present in all regions of the Black Sea region, and plans to open several stores in Serbia. There are announcements that there may be online sales as well.
The chain's stores, apart from Russia, already operate in Kazakhstan, Belarus, the UAE, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.
According to the annual financial report, Fix Price achieved revenue of 314,9 billion Russian rubles in 2024, which is about four billion dollars or 3,5 billion euros.
Fix Price's range, according to what the company offers on its online store, consists of household products, household chemicals, food, beverages and cosmetics and hygiene products. Fix Price sells items of Russian and international brands.
At the end of 2023, the company Fix Price announced that one of the shareholders of Fix Price, Artjom Khachatryan, sold his share in the capital and resigned as a member of the Board of Directors.
The total amount of the sold share in the capital amounted to 299 million shares, or 35,2 percent of the company's share capital. The CEO of Fix Price, Dmitry Kirsanov, acquired one percent of the share capital, or 8,5 million shares, while the second majority shareholder of Fix Price, Sergej Lomakin, bought the remaining 34,2 percent, or 290,5 million shares.
Before that transaction, Lomakin owned 35,43 percent, so by adding those two shares, he came into possession of 69,6 percent of Fix Price shares.
Lomakin has been intensively cooperating with Vučić since 2025, primarily through investments in Serbian sports.
In August 2025, Vučić announced that Lomakin, who is the owner of the Cypriot FC Paphos, is ready to invest in FC Loznica.
At the official meeting at the end of July, Vučić called Lomakin "a sincere friend of Serbia".
Lomakin is one of the Russian businessmen who received Serbian citizenship, and at the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Boxing Association of Serbia (BSS) at the end of 2024, Lomakin was elected as the general director of the BSS.
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