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Inna Mikhailov in her Eastern European souvenir store
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How one woman turned her nostalgia into a business

In the Soviet Union, there were no businesses, much less businesswomen. Inna Mikhailov worked as a librarian and lived a…


In the Soviet Union, there were no businesses, much less businesswomen. Inna Mikhailov worked as a librarian and lived a simple life in Ukraine before the USSR collapsed in 1991.

But with her country’s newfound independence came a lack of security for Mikhailov and her family. Eventually, they made the difficult decision to leave.

Four months after arriving in Canada, in 1996, Mikhailov opened a video rental store in Vancouver where she sells Russian movies.

“I wanted to have something here in Russian, something that would remind me about my homeland,” she said.

Mikhailov talks about how nostalgia for Ukraine led her to become a businesswoman in Canada.

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