Yeliseyevsky, end 120 years of an era in Moscow.
Imperial Russia welcomed him in 1901 . You can imagine what it was like to open such a luxurious and elegant grocery store built in a mansion belonging to Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya. During the time in which the princess lived, l he mansion served as a hall and epicenter of Moscow's cultural life where famous musicians, writers and poets such as Alexander Pushkin, well-known poet of the Russian romantic era, often dropped by.
The building passed into the hands of the Yeliseyevsky family of merchants , who made their fortune importing fruit and wine to Imperial Russia. The store soon became one of the most popular in the city because it offered homemade delicacies and rare imported products, such as wines, highly valued at the time. But also, it was his luxurious interiors that made Yeliseyevsky never go unnoticed.
From Imperial glamor it became nationalized during the **Russian Revolution in 1917**, and still did not lose its shine. It was one of the few places in Moscow where you could still find caviar, quail, smoked sturgeon and other products that would not otherwise be available.
The scandal rocked it in 1983 when the director was convicted of corruption, but Yeliseyevsky Food Emporium seemed like an unsinkable icon until the pandemic hit , which joined a convoluted legal agreement for the sale of the building.
120 years of history.
THE REASONS FOR THE CLOSURE
120 years have passed through the building, now empty and practically lifeless. Its doors were closed on April 11 and some nostalgics dropped into the grocery store to salvage some of their signature products before closing time.
What has happened to reach this sad sunset? The store building was owned by the city, which had a contract since 2005 with the Aliye Parusa supermarket chain. In 2015, the city agreed to sell the building to the chain, but a deal was never ultimately reached. Meanwhile, in 2019 Aliye Parusa closed its stores, leaving Yeliseyevsky alone.
It seems that the pandemic, the lack of tourism and an already obsolete store concept are behind its definitive closure.