GUM

Very impressive but also the best example of russian “Art de Vivre”.
I loved the architecture I believe it was an official building before refurbishment but also the way the project promoters have redesigned the place to make one of the best shopping mall I have visited yet.

GUM is just too exclusive. Unless you have the dizzying wealth of a Russian oil oligarch, it make just make you feel inadequate and resentful of all the bespoke Dior dresses you can’t afford. The roof is cool though and the cafe serves a nice cup of coffee (the only thing I could afford!!)

This shopping mal didn’t sell nothing during socialistic time but nowadays you get all the desinger stuff in there. It belong to an Italian invester company.

Just another shopping mall – all of the Soviet history has long since been covered over by all-too-fashionable shops.

I agree with the others, Gum is just a standard collection of shops, but it’s worth popping in after you’ve seen Red Square, because they have a (deliberately kept) flock of birds (Starlings?) flying around inside the glass roof. That was quite a bizarre sight.