Russian Art Gallery to close after 10 years downtown
Business suffered heavily during pandemic shutdowns, collapse of tourism industry
The decade-old Russian Art Gallery in downtown Santa Fe will permanently close at 2 p.m. Thursday, a move the owners say is largely due to the state’s business restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic and the collapse of the tourism industry.
Tourists make up to 90 percent of business at the gallery, 216 Galisteo St., which specializes in post-1950 Russian impressionism and realism. The gallery also carries nesting dolls, icons and sculptures.
“We know the artists personally,” co-owner Jiri Petrek said. “We visit Russia.”
Petrek and co-owner Olga Korol had published a going-out-ofbusiness advertisement two weeks before the closing, which drew many customers.
“That was uplifting,” Petrek said. “I’m grateful for the locals who responded to the ad. We had more locals in the last two weeks than ever.”
Petrek plans to shift to e-commerce to sell remaining merchandise after the store closes.
Petrek and Korol had been considering whether to close the gallery for the past two years, when business was “up and down,” Petrek said.
Then the pandemic hit, leading to a lockdown of nonessential businesses from March to May. When the gallery was finally able to open, a 14-day quarantine for out-of-state visitors remained in place, and the reopening brought little relief.
“It was worse than I imagined,” Petrek said. “My wishful thinking and reality clashed. With restrictions from politicians going back and forth, it did even bigger damage afterward.”
Petrek estimated business was down 60 percent.
In October, the pair decided to close at the end of the year, knowing January, February and March would be the slowest months for art sales.
The Russian Art Gallery opened in Raleigh, N.C., in 2004. Sales plummeted with the 2008 recession, and Petrek and Korol looked to relocate. They opened the Santa Fe store in September 2010
Many Santa Fe galleries have closed temporarily during the pandemic; it is unclear, however, how many will remain closed permanently. Santa Fe Gallery Association head Warren Keating recently said many members of the group have remained silent about their status or plans.