May 2024, 16 is an extraordinary day in the capital's trade history. On that day, the longest operating Vilnius shopping center CUP celebrated its honorable 50th anniversary. And this is a great opportunity to remember the most interesting episodes and history of the past. Let's remember how the right bank of the Neris River, little touched by urbanization, became the new center of the city of Vilnius and the capital's business district, with the White Bridge leading the way to the heart of almost every Vilnius resident.
Prospect is getting tight
Vilnius Central Department Store (now CUP shopping center) opened its doors in 1974. and ushered in a new era of modern commerce. However, it was not the first large shopping center in Vilnius. Before the opening of the CUP shopping center, the title of the capital's main department store belonged to the hundred-year-old building on Gedimina Ave., on the other side of the river, next to V. Kudirka Square. 18. It currently has a store "Maxima", a pharmacy, and the older generation knows this five-story building best as the former "Children's World".
In the first decades of the Soviet era, the intense trade that took place on the avenue could obviously no longer survive in the beautiful, but cramped clothes of the old building. Nothing surprising - after all, the object was built in an earlier era, in the interwar period. He invited buyers to the halls in 1923. At that time, the Jablkowski brothers, the Polish trade magnates, who had already built an impressive shopping center in Warsaw, opened another, slightly smaller one in Vilnius.
Over time, the trade house's turnover increased, and the number of employees reached an impressive number of 120 for that time. Having survived the Second World War, the object became the main department store in Soviet Vilnius for several decades. However, the further it went, the more obvious it became that the capital deserved new, more spacious shopping halls.
A new universal bus. But where?
We are already used to the fact that the CUP shopping center is located where it has been for many years - on the right bank of the Neris, in the city center, by the river. However, at the beginning of the 7s, the question of where to build the future largest shopping center of the capital was a big puzzle for city planners. Let's try to imagine that the most important store in the capital appears in one of the following alternative locations:
- New town, between Mindaugas and T. Shevchenko streets. After rejecting this location, a furniture store was later built there (now "Maxima" on Mindaugo Street);
- Lukiškės, at the former Youth Stadium. After rejecting this location, at the end of the Soviet era, the space was filled by the Chamber of the Seimas (Supreme Council);
- The side of the old town, the square near Pylimo and Naugarduks streets. There used to be a flower pavilion, and now there is a bar "Pavilion";
- The surroundings of Gediminas avenue, at the current A. Vienuolis street. After rejecting this place, the palace of the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet Theater was built later.
After weighing the advantages and disadvantages, it was decided to make a completely different decision and move to the right bank of the Neris, where construction was much less frequent, which means that there is much more space for designers' creativity.
True, from a historical point of view, the chosen place was not a wasteland at all, on the contrary, it had a solid historical charge. Right behind the Green Bridge, there has been a suburb for a long time, still known as Šnipiškii. Many suburbs of Vilnius were not formed anywhere, but on strategic roads. For example, Uzhupis stretched along the highway to Pollock, and New Town (previously called Shopping) - along the roads to Trakis and Kaunas. Šnipiškės is no exception. As soon as you cross Neri, to the left of the bridge, the old tract to Ukmerga and Riga rises up. The beginning of that path is easy to identify - it corresponds to the footpath to the right of St. Churches of Rapola. Rulers once moved along the stone-paved ancient highway, soldiers, merchants, pilgrims... It would probably be easier to say who did not use it - after all, it is one of the busiest old roads from Vilnius. Careful researchers can still see the old "pavement" of Ukmergė road with their own eyes, only a little further, in the part of Ukmergė street behind Constitution Avenue.
The New City Center is born
At the beginning of the 7s, architects and urban planners rolled up their sleeves. At that time, the concept of developing a new social and commercial city center on the right bank of the Neris was being developed. Thus, the position of a lone shopping center in the open field is not foreseen, but on the contrary, becoming a part of a large and modern ensemble of new buildings.
Big ones came up next to it hotels "Lietuva" and "Turistas" (now "Radisson Blu" and "Best Western"), the domestic service building with a rhythmic facade (Konstitucijos pr. 12), and later - the planetarium. It is interesting that this is not all that was planned - we lacked the strength to build the Central Dance Hall, which apparently would have become a kind of "Mecca of discos" in Vilnius, and perhaps the most impressive was the plan to install a canal or a bay under the White Bridge with water cascades and yachts pier
Despite some unrealized ambitions, eventually the space behind the Green Bridge changed beyond recognition and for many decades to come became the new city center, called NMC for short or even CBD (according to the English term Central Business District, lit. central business district). Both decades ago and now, this is one of the most photographed places in the capital.
Construction is not without its challenges
in 1965 the popular magazine "Švyturys" informed its readers that CUP, or as the journalist mentioned at the time, "chamber of commerce", was already under construction. It was a significant object - some moments of the construction of the unfinished shopping center even graced the covers of magazines. However, it is easy to calculate that it was almost a decade before the opening of the shopping center in 1974.
Although the innovative frame structure of the facility and even an on-site factory of construction parts were supposed to speed up the construction, it faced serious financial challenges. One of them is quite typical - the redistribution of the priorities of the city government in favor of another, more important object - just at that time the cranes were cutting the roof over the future Opera and Ballet Theater.
The second reason is much more dramatic. in 1965 Tashkent, the capital of the Uzbek SSR, was devastated by a devastating earthquake. In the same cauldron of Soviet republics, it was decided to help the Central Asian nation in solidarity, so many resources were transferred to the reconstruction of Tashkent. The people of Vilnius, who were waiting for a new trade powerhouse, had to be patient for a while longer.
The big day
in 1974 May 16 it was already possible to shout "finally!". A department store of unprecedented size invited customers to come inside. The assortment seemed amazing for those times - under one roof you could find tourism, haberdashery, jewelry, textiles, electricity, stationery, sports, photo, radio, perfumery and a whole host of other goodies. It is interesting that a solid part of the products on the counters were created right here in Vilnius.
Not only that, in some departments absolutely all goods were Lithuanian. As evidenced by the list of suppliers preserved in the thick, leather-covered CUP yearbook, the suppliers of the "Knitwear and Fabrics" department were once the factories "Sparta", "Vilija", "Kaunos audiniai", sewing atelier "Rožė", Mr. Zibert's silk fabric combine, and In the "Clothing and Footwear" section, the association "Lelija" reigned supreme. Although the 21st century the economy is much more global, we can still find the products of some Lithuanian manufacturers that continue to operate successfully in the shopping center.
Escalators received no less attention than goods at the beginning of the store's activity. Yes, in 1974 it was a real technical miracle, the first such case in Lithuania. It is not for nothing that almost every early photo or video report about the new shopping center shows the escalators in abundance and in close-up. The shopping center had formed a special brigade of escalators to maintain these complex technical equipment. A lot of work had to be done by the security guard, who chased away the children who got into trouble. One funny curiosity was recorded in the historical annals: in the construction estimate of the object, by mistake, not "escalator" was written, but "excavator". When the responsible engineer went to the then Leningrad factory, it turned out that the "escalator" is 10 times more expensive than the "excavator", and the funds were not included in the estimate! However, it was not necessary to abandon such an important element, so additional funds were found for this innovation, and escalators were installed.
A smile is a powerful weapon
"You are not supposed to work in a store, but to sell beans in the market!" - a shop visitor complained about the service culture. True, this is a quote from the distant 1977, when the moody 9-minute film "Gioconda on the 4th Floor" by director Gediminas Skvarnavicius hit the television screens. This satire tells about the everyday life of the Soviet service culture, the considerable efforts of a customer in a supermarket to find a salesperson with a... smile. Finally, luck hits the buyer - he finds his "Gioconda" on the 4th floor of the store.
This film is interesting not only as a work of art, but also as a documentary, which shows the interior, people, and cultural background of shopping centers of those times to a modern person. By the way, the importance of a smile is not only discussed in this film. Journalists liked to delve into this topic specifically when visiting the Vilnius central department store that was operating at that time - after all, it was the main store in the entire country, so it was a kind of litmus test, an example, a flagship.
The everyday life of the employees was interestingly recorded in the magazine "Jaunimo gretos" in 1977. The very title of the article "It's not easy to smile - you have to smile" confirms the importance of the question. By the way, one of the heroines of the interview, Giedrė Švedienė, a saleswoman in the perfume department, told the journalist at the time that she chose this profession because she was shy and wanted to learn how to communicate with people. Perhaps such an open approach would also be useful for a modern person trying to improve his social skills?
New era - new clothes
The fact that the longest operating shopping center in Vilnius is already 50 years old is really surprising. After all, when we hear the term "shopping center", we usually think of the giant complexes built a decade or two ago in Šeškina, Žirmūnai, in the zoo. All of them started writing their history already in independent Lithuania, under the conditions of a market economy. But the CUP shopping center's starting position was completely different and it had to go through a huge political and economic transformation. And yet - it was implemented successfully.
The first years of independence were extremely difficult for the shopping center, like many other businesses. The abundance of shocks sowed pessimism and uncertainty about the future. The spirit of "wild capitalism" of the 90s is wonderfully conveyed by two reports preserved in the "Panorama Archives" of LRT. One - about coupons issued urgently by buyers before the introduction of the litas in 1993, the other - about mass layoffs and the closing of the center in 1995.
However, finding determination and resources, the CUP rose like a phoenix from the ashes. This revival was most embodied in 2002-2003. reconstruction of the building has been completed. The team of the architect Leonidas Merkin, the project manager, with respectful restraint kept many of the original volumetric compositional solutions, leaving the white color to dominate the facades, so the object changed relatively little from the outside. New cars have been added next to it parking lots body. Most of the changes took place inside - the shopping areas were enlarged and organized differently, and new escalators and elevators were installed. On the fifth floor, which was previously used for administration and storage, the space has been substantially reorganized and adapted for commercial activities. The roof of the building was crowned by a new glass dome. in 2003 it was one of the most important renovation projects in Vilnius.
The chronicle of the history of CUP is written below. Several smaller renovations have been implemented quite recently (the latest one is in 2024), and in the coming years, the legendary shopping center will be complemented by the 6-story office and commercial premises complex "UpCity".
