A large bookstore opened on Khreschatyk. What is it and how does it work – News

Anastasia Bolshakova

On Friday, February 16, a large bookstore opened on the main street of the capital – “Sense on Khreschatyk”. The facility is located next to the Kyiv City Council.

Sens opens only in a test format, but from the first day it greets visitors with a clip presentation Serhiy Zhadan and Irena Karpa “Survive”. According to the organizers, registration for the event was closed 6 hours after the announcement.

“We wanted to support the new bookstore and it is good that they are not only closing but also opening on Khreshchatyk. The fact that bookstores open even during the war presents Ukrainians as people who have faith in tomorrow, in their culture and opportunities“, he shared Serhiy Zhadan.

Now, not everything that was planned has been implemented – the children’s area, the second floor and no elevator are not working. However, in the comment for UP. Culture founder of the bookstore “Sens” and now the new “Sens on Khreschatyk” Oleksiy Erinchak said that within the next two months the team plans to fulfill the promise – to create an inclusive book space:

“When all this is ready, then we will be able to invite visitors to the grand official opening. Today, we are still a super-barrier space, people in wheelchairs will not be able to get to the minus first floor or to the second without an elevator“, Erinchak said.

All places of “defects” are now closed from the eyes of visitors either with doors or plywood. And it was done quite skillfully, which makes the flaws look more like a thought-out design move.

“There will be more light, more shelves. But now we work as is. We need to show ourselves and we need to show publishers that we can sell books. And we will also get to know a new audience, which is different from the bookstore on Arsenalnaya“, – adds Oleksiy Erinchak.

The total area of ​​Sensu na Khreschatyk occupies about 1.5 thousand square meters. A coffee shop, a place for rest and reading with shelves of bestsellers and art publications were placed on the first floor.

If you go down the stairs to the “minus first floor”, you can come across fiction and non-fiction literature, separated by a corridor. They also added a corner of foreign publications, there are already English-language books, later they plan to add Polish and other languages.

The basement is not a shelter, so in the event of an air alarm, visitors should go to the Khreshchatyk metro station.

On the second floor, there is a co-working space and a place for events and presentations. According to communications manager Anastasia Rodionova, there have already been people willing to create events in the bookstore.

Yes, on February 23, the presentation of the book “Bakhmut” by Myroslav Layuk from Ukrainianer will take place, as well as a photo exhibition by Danylo Pavlov about this city.