Inside GUM: RUSSIA’S most Expensive Store! 💸 | Russia Vlog

Hello, my beautiful comrades! Welcome back to my vlog, and welcome back to Russia! I'm standing here in the middle of the famous Red Square. It's our main square of Russia, and in today's vlog we will do something very cool, because I will take you inside this beautiful building. It's called GUM. In Russia we call it Государственный универсальный магазин. In English we can say the main state department store. So, let's go inside, and let's see what we can find there. If you are visiting Russia, it's just top one place to go, the Red Square. You just cannot miss it, and September I highly recommend, because the outside temperature is just perfect, perfect skies, just very pleasant day today. So, if you don't know the layout of the Red Square, I can explain you very fast. So, this red building is actually a historical museum. This is famous Kremlin walls, and Lenin lays somewhere there inside. This is clock tower and the Saint Basil Cathedral on the other side. So, all four sides of our Red Square is just magnificent, guys, but we're going to go there to the central entrance to the GUM department store. Yes, you can entrance from both sides, but I think this middle entrance is the most epic. So, let's go inside, guys. Its story began in 1893, when the upper trading rows opened to the public. This was a groundbreaking idea at the time. More than a thousand individual shops gathered under one roof, creating a bustling marketplace at the very center of the capital. The building was designed by architect Alexander Pomerantsev and engineer Vladimir Shukov, whose revolutionary glass and steel roof arches stretch over 240 meters. Inspired by European arcades like those in Paris and Milan, the design combined classical Russian motifs with modern engineering, making it one of the largest shopping arcades in the world. For decades before the revolution, GUM was a symbol of private enterprise, offering luxury goods and fashionable items to Moscow's upper classes. It is very beautiful inside. If you will be visiting for the first time, it's going to impress you a lot. Of course, I've been here so many times already, but every time I like it. And here I can feel the smell of history. This building is very very old, but what I can tell you is that they keep it in the best conditions possible. We can call this place the most expensive store in Russia, and before sanctions this place was a home for very famous western high fashion brands. But look what happened today. They still own some shops here. It is how the world looks right at the moment. They have some clothing on display, but unfortunately it's closed for visiting. The store is closed due to technical problems. We apologize for temporary inconveniences, it says. The atmosphere of luxury. So, we end up on the second level. I will explain you about the layout of this place. So, it has three lines, three straight corridors, and three levels. And it's all connected with beautiful cute bridges, escalators, and balconies. So, it's a crazy adventure to go around. When I walk here, my sneakers literally squeak. I want to touch the ground. I want to feel how clean this floor is. Like, it's literally so clean, it's spotless. I want to show you guys how fashion and retail world is changing after sanctions. So, behind me is Lime, it's a Russian clothing brand. And now they open location here, just at the Red Square, in the most expensive store in Russia. So, after sanctions, really, Russian brand became more popular. And now they can't afford to open a giant store just here. Look at this, guys. It is the best location just at the entrance. Two-story building. It's going to be their flagship store. My cute pink jacket is actually from Lime brand, so I also support sometimes and buy clothing from them. It's a middle-class brand, more expensive than Zara, for example, but the quality is really better because you don't need to throw their clothes after one season. It will last you a few years. This is how I feel. Like, I bought one piece and I would keep it for a few years for sure. If you're foreigners, you will probably not recognize many brands in this shop, but not every Western brand left Russia. Some of them, they still stay here. For example, like I see Karl Lagerfeld or Max Mara and stuff like that. But it's a good chance for you to learn something more and maybe you will find some Russian brands here. This is a real school uniform of Soviet Union kids. It's from 1950s. For real, guys, from my Soviet childhood. Not Soviet. I mean, I was born in Russia already, but I can remember this kind of leather sandals. And my mom told me that for real they wore the brown color underneath shirt and then they had this white outfit with a star and this communist scarf they should wear. Yeah, here. Sometimes in the summertime they put a lot of watermelons inside a fountain, but now there are no watermelons at the moment. Still very pretty. So, what I want to do is, I want to visit this Russian cafe for a coffee. And another most famous thing that you need to do in GUM is try famous GUM ice cream. So, let's do that. This is Cafe Pushkin and this is the advertisement of Russian breakfast. It costs 1460 rubles and this is what they offer. I feel here like a real communist party elite. Look at these epic chairs, guys. I feel like I'm in a historical theater or somewhere. So, I order their best dessert and prices for desserts here are kind of capitalist. Like one cake can cost 100 USA dollars for real. One piece of cake is the same price as a main course. I don't know why is that, but I hope it's worth the price. Oh, wow, my dessert is here. I didn't expect it to be like almost in a soup plate. Wow, this plate is like UFO with a picture of Pushkin. So, let's find out what's inside. Oh, wow. Wow, this is incredible. Like, honestly, I didn't feel anything like this for a long time, really. It has very light delicious sauce and then inside there are a few layers. One pink, one green and very dark color. It is also a berry sauce. It's the best thing. It has just right temperature, a bit cold, like from the fridge, but not as cold as ice cream. It just works so well together. Well, that was absolutely amazing. If you are at the Red Square, you want some coffee, Russian food, a good dessert, I highly recommend 100% you should come here at the Café Pushkin. After the 1917 revolution, the private shops were nationalized and in 1921 the building officially became the State Department Store or GU. In the early Soviet years, it was seen as a model of socialist retail, an experiment in state-run commerce. Even with shortages elsewhere, it offered citizens one of the widest selection of goods in the USSR, although buying them often meant waiting in long queues. During the Stalin years, the building was briefly used for government offices, but later returned to being a store and became a familiar part of everyday Soviet life. Its marble staircases, decorative iron balconies and tall glass ceiling stood out against the plainness of much Soviet architecture, making a visit to GUM both a shopping trip and a cultural experience. Russian and Chinese brands are taking over. Even here, at GUM store, there is a Chinese car on display, Honchi brand, with a Russian girl wearing traditional red Chinese dress. I wonder if it's possible for Lada to stay in the main department store of Beijing, would be cool. Lots of Chinese tourists here at the moment in Moscow and they are all enjoying famous Russian GUM ice cream. After my crazy dessert from Pushkin cafe, I'm not sure that I want to get an ice cream because it was enough for me. But believe me, GUM ice cream is worth trying, it costs $2. It's a famous waffle cone Russian ice cream and they have a lot of different tastes. A few days ago, I was doing live from the Red Square and GUM shopping mall, I tried that, I tried the cherry taste and it was really good. We're going to do something special today, guys. We're going to visit a local historical toilet. You ask me, is it just a toilet with the historical vibes? And I say no, actually, you can take a shower over there. It costs 1000 Russian rubles and I already have an appointment for 5 p.m. So we have around 40 minutes to walk around and after that we're going to take a special shower here at the GUM store. I still have a few minutes left until my bathroom appointment, so we can visit gastronome number one. So it's pretty much a supermarket of party communist elite, guys. You can buy dope things here, guys, like caviar, souvenirs, fancy chocolates, all expensive stuff you can find. The alcohol, vodka, matryoshkas, very very epic food store here at the Red Square. It is pretty epic. Vodka shelf, premium vodka, Kremlin vodka, costs 1753 rubles. That is insane! I didn't know it has like literally an alcohol room. Wow, some crazy sorts of wines here. The atmosphere is so historical too. This place has almost everything, they sell even freshly baked bread, they sell souvenirs, they sell tea, coffee, alcohol, some food, honey, souvenirs, matryoshkas, like almost everything. This place deserves a separate video on YouTube. Wow, guys, this giant bottle of vodka is 26 539 rubles. Wow, it is crazy, I found Hammer and Sickle vodka. What a nice present to bring to the capitalist country. Every liquor you can imagine, they have it here. Insane. So, gastronome number one, if you're around the Red Square or Ingum, I highly recommend you to go inside and buy some souvenirs from this place, because they have some really authentic Russian stuff that you can bring to your country. The price of the black caviar 18 096 Russian rubles per 100 grams. This is my purchase from the gastronome number one, Soviet original drink called Tarkhun. It cost 87 rubles, not bad at all. It is finally the time to visit historic Tulid of Gum. This is a bright sign with three languages, has even a Chinese translation. And this is an entrance, they have historical pictures on the wall, and this big banner explaining the history of the place. This is the price to visit historic bathroom, 200 rubles to just visit a bathroom, but a shower with towels, slippers, which cost 1000 Russian rubles. Seems like I'm having a private bathroom for an hour here at the Red Square. What do you think, guys? It feels like an expensive hotel. So, let's do a room tour. Very big and bright mirror with the historical lights. Wow, everything is like marble here. So, this is soap, I guess. We have shower gel, two towels, wow, and hairdryer, good. Wow, this is a real historical shower. Hairdryer is old, but it works, which is good. My camera is waterproof, as well as I took my swimming suit with me, so we can go inside and wash hair and wash everything. I hope you feel clean and fresh, as I do. It was really amazing, and I think the best feature that makes it feel like staying in a hotel is this nice bathroom. So, I'm going to sit here for a few minutes and just chill out and enjoy and dry my hair. So, what I like the most about this shower is that it feels really clean and almost spotless, like not even a single dust in here. It doesn't feel like we are inside of the old, very old building. It doesn't smell like an old environment, it doesn't smell like bad water or anything. It just feels absolutely nice here. I'm done with my shower, so this is how the room looks from the outside. They have only one shower room, so you have to book it in advance or just to be lucky to come in, and this is area for everyone. I mean, 200 rubles you can pay to use this amazing bathroom. Also, very clean and very beautiful. Highly recommend to come here. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, GUM entered a completely new chapter. Freed from state control, the building went through a major restoration to bring back its original late 90th-century beauty while updating it for modern shopping. By the mid-1990s, GUM reopened as a high-end shopping center with international luxury brands, stylish cafes and cultural exhibitions. Yet, it remained more than just a store. It became a symbol of Moscow's renewal, where visitors can walk through a living monument to Russian history and architecture, experiencing both the elegance of the past and the glamour of the present under one extraordinary even has a cinema. It has almost everything. I feel like you can spend a whole day here. For example, you can have a breakfast at Pushkin cafe, and then you can walk around Red Square and visit St. Basil's Cathedral, then you can come back here and have lunch at the Stolovaya, and then you can take a shower, and then for the evening you can go watch a movie. What a perfect day visiting Red Square, right? We are at the third level. It has another cafe here with colorful umbrellas, and this is entrance to the old-style cinema. It says Kinozal. This is tickets office. The tickets cost around 1500 rubles for evening movie. At the moment, I think they have movie going on, because the door is closed. This is the entrance to the cinema area, cinema hall. It's called Bolshoy Zal. Also, it has a snacks and bar area. Very cute. So, maybe another day I would visit. I never visited that. We started to have more Russian movies in Russian cinema, but I'm not a fan of Russian cinema, so yeah, I almost never go to the Russian cinema anymore. I just like to watch everything at home. Wow, there is even a red carpet area. We can go down. So, I was inside, I saw inside how the screen area looks like. It looks very cozy, like very small and cozy cinema. So, another day I will go. That was really amazing experience, guys. Never gets boring, even for me as a local. I've been there a few times, but still, you can find every time new things to do and fun experiences. Best shopping and visiting, epic shower, just unforgettable, guys. But if you will be visiting for the first time, you will have a crazy time. That was GUM department store and me, Lisa the Russian. Please give me a big like if you like my adventures and if you want to follow these daily vlogs from Russia, you can subscribe to my channel down below. And if you really like what I'm doing here, you can support my job financially by becoming a Patreon sponsor, or you can send me a tiny little dollar here under this video. Thank you so much, guys, for staying with me until the very end, and I will see you very soon in my next one. Bye-bye!