A RUSSIAN businessman who left his family in Moscow as a teenager a decade ago has just opened a second gift shop in the UK.

Andrey Pronin has opened a branch of Podarok, which means “present” in his native language, in High Street, Oxford.

The 25-year-old city resident opened the store this month, barely two years after starting his original Podarok shop in Cambridge.

He is hoping the two stores will lift the company’s total annual turnover to at least £500,000, double what the Cambridge store currently generates.

Products include lampshades, clocks, jewellery, homewares, fashion accessories like ties and shawls, and leather bags.

He said: “I’m not interested in retail per se, I’m interested in business, and I saw an opportunity.”

At 14 his father, a manager of a company that builds beauty salons, and his mother, a former German teacher, suggested he leave his Moscow home.

He said: “At that time, my family were not sure what would happen in Russia.”

He completed his secondary education at Oxford’s d’Overbroecks College, and read politics and economics at the University of Cambridge.

In his final year at university, he started a walking tour guide business in Cambridge and Oxford called Oxbridge Tours.

After selling to his business partner in 2012, he opened the Cambridge store.

The company has five employees, including one full-time and two part-time staff at the Oxford store.

For about 10 per cent of total stock, Podarok pays the suppliers after the stock is sold, rather than upfront.

This means less capital is tied up with stock and can be reinvested in growing the business, Mr Pronin said.

 

 

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