Yeliseyev grocery store: A luxurious food temple

The Yeliseyev Grocery Store and wine cellar opened in Moscow on February 5 (January 23 by the old calendar), 1901. The country’s most renowned grocery store continues to attract customers to this day with its spectacular interior and wide variety of goods.

Located on Tverskaya, Moscow’s main shopping street, the building dates back to the late 1780s. It was designed by architect Matvei Kazakov for Yekaterina Kozitskaya, the widow of Grigory Kozitsky, secretary of state to Catherine II. The lane where the building stands was later named after Kozitskaya.

Millionaire merchant Grigory Yeliseyev bought the building in 1898 and immediately surrounded it with a fence to begin renovation. The details of the project were kept secret: some said it would be turned into an Indian pagoda, others that it would be a Mauritanian castle or a temple of Bacchus.
Photo: In the Yeliseyevsky Grocery Store, 1993.

The first visitors to the store were struck by its luxurious interior, its moldings, gilded surfaces, and huge crystal chandeliers that imitated grapevines.
Photo: In the Yeliseyevsky Grocery Store, 2001.

Yeliseyev left for France after the 1917 revolution and the store was nationalized and renamed Grocery Store No. 1. But the people still referred to it as Yeliseyev and regarded it as a Moscow icon. People from across Russia came to visit the store, which was almost seen as a monument to the old way of life.

The store’s interior fell into disrepair during the Soviet period, as the gilt peeled and the lamps lost their pendants.

Yeliseyevsky’s store featured prominently in a Soviet scandal. Its director, Yuri Sokolov, was charged with embezzling from the country’s richest store and sentenced to capital punishment in 1983. He was executed a year later.
Photo: The confectionery section of Yeliseyevsky’s store.

In 1991, ninety years after it opened, the shelves were almost bare in what was once the most opulent grocery store in the country. But within a year visitors could once again delight in the variety of foods and delicacies it offered. The store became a joint-stock company and took on its historical name, Yeliseyev.

A large renovation project was completed at the store in 2004. The restoration was based on Grigory Yeliseyev’s drawings.

The store again has moldings and gilding…

…as well as crystal chandeliers.

A year later the Aliye Parusa retail chain became the asset management company for Yeliseyev. Today people go there for delicacies or just to get a feeling for the spirit of old Moscow.