What services do villagers no longer need to go to the district center?

For a long time, the maintenance of social infrastructure in the regions lay solely on the shoulders of consumer service plants. Haircut, repair of shoes or clothes, ordering ritual services It was a centralized system that covered basic human needs for decades. However, the time and demands of the villager have changed. Today, new services are actively coming to the village, which were not thought about ten years ago. With the development of digitalization, logistics and private business, the boundaries between town and country are beginning to blur. Next to the state “household” there are points for issuing Internet orders, a system of outbound service, network retail is developing and private masters work. How is the rural housing market transforming today? Could the new formats completely replace the good old BWC?

A more rapid rhythm of life and the approximation of social standards in modern agro-towns to urban ones have significantly expanded not only the list of household services, but also the list of their suppliers. According to the laws of the market, choice works for quality and a fair price. If you look at the statistics of recent years, the trend of expanding services in the countryside is obvious. According to the Register of Household Services as of January 1, 2025, the number of entities engaged in this field amounted to 41.2 thousand. Of these, 36 percent are legal entities, almost 64 percent are individual entrepreneurs. In total, more than 31.6 thousand household service facilities were opened in the republic. Obviously, the emergence of private craftsmen greatly eases the burden on state structures. It is difficult to reach everyone in one trip, so private initiative in many places fell to the court. They are usually actively supported in the area. One person gets a job and the other gets a service. Everyone wins. But the BWC is too early to write off. They are still going where there are fewer and fewer people.

The Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies provided interesting data on the market of household services in rural areas. In 2026, experts conducted a survey of 464 villagers in Iviev, Lida, Shchuchin and Slonim districts in Grodno region. The results showed that the vast majority of villagers use household services, more than half regularly. The most popular of them are hairdressers (85 percent), repair of clothes and shoes (63), repair of appliances and household appliances (33), dry cleaning (31). The main format for receiving services is trips to the district center. However, where complex reception points work, residents of Lidchina and Slonim region willingly use them. In Ivievsky and Shchuchinsky districts more often turn to private individuals.

At the same time, as the analyst of the Grodno branch of BISS Sergey Volchkevich notes, the quality and efficiency of most respondents are assessed as satisfactory. But at the same time, people want masters to come more often, and conditions at reception points were more comfortable.

Villagers welcome such initiatives as the “Day of Life”, when different craftsmen gather in one place, as well as the creation of a single telephone number to register with specialists. This format was successfully implemented in the agro-town of Gervyaty, where the hairdresser worked, at the same time, orders were received for repair of clothes, dry cleaning of carpets, washing of blankets and wardrobes. Residents could make an appointment in advance, as well as hand over things for cleaning and updating. This format turned out to be convenient for everyone: both for villagers and for craftsmen who do not need to travel to remote villages every time.

Consumer service plants in different regions are also actively trying to adapt to the realities of today: to take into account the geography, as well as the needs of the population in their area.

Svetlana Kerbed. Svetlana Kerbed, a barber of the 6th category, who has been working in the Volozhinsk Consumer Service Plant for 45 years, remembers the times when haircuts were simple, and staining was rare. It's different today. People, rural or urban, think through images more carefully.

- Now everyone takes care of themselves, says Svetlana. Even grandmas over 80 want to be stylish. And men keep up. Some people look after themselves more than women.

According to her, going to the countryside is a normal practice. For example, in the agro-town of Pershai they go every third Wednesday of the month. The plant allocates a car with a driver. If several people gather for a holiday or event, the masters come outside the schedule. On the day Svetlana takes up to 10-15 people. There is competition with private customers, but each category of customers has its own preferences.

- On the road, I can not do complex staining or chemical perm, explains the hairdresser. It takes time, equipped space, hot water. But if a customer needs a simple haircut, we are always happy to help.

The beauty sphere is the most dynamically developing in rural areas. And many ladies who dared to change the city residence to the village residence for their own reasons, find in it their vocation and constant grateful customers.

Anna Damaratskaya is a master of nail service. She moved from Borovlyan to the quiet agro-town of Yuzufovo, Minsk district. I did not plan to open an office here, but the impetus was the question of local residents in the chat: is there a beauty master nearby? Anna already had a successful studio in Minsk. So why don't you turn around to the stowaway?

- I did not expect such a demand, she admits. I had to equip everything from scratch, buy modern equipment for manicure, pedicure and eyelash extensions. The recording is a few days in advance.

Prices in the agro-town are lower than in the capital, but customer requests are different. In the village, short nails are made more often, they often seek a pedicure. If we talk about eyelash building, long and natural effects are popular in Minsk. And villagers choose bright, thick eyelashes - to be seen, Anna talks about observations of different beauties.

The master also believes that the beauty sphere in the countryside is developing in parallel with the general growth of interest in life outside the city. Urban residents are increasingly buying homes and moving to the countryside. And girls always and everywhere want to be groomed, whether they are sitting in the office or rushing to the farm to take care of calves. In this she is a Belarusian woman. chargaziya@sb.by

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