TSUM Central Department Store

You can't miss TSUM on Khreshchatyk Street - it's the one with the bright window displays, and it's been there since 1939. It was almost destroyed by bombing during the Second World War, bought by Esta Holding in 2010, and since 2016 it's been renovated and extended with nearly 20,000 square metres of new floor space. The facade you see from the street is still the historical one.

Inside it's eight floors and around 400 brands, and it's firmly at the expensive end of Kyiv shopping. If you're here to buy rather than to look, know that going in.

What's on Each Floor

The shopping runs up through the building, but the two floors worth climbing for are near the top. The 6th is a food hall with around 25 food and drink vendors, and the 7th is given over to restaurants, bars and cafes with windows looking out over central Kyiv. That view is the reason to come even if you buy nothing, and it's a good spot to end an afternoon on Khreshchatyk. If you want the cheap version of lunch instead, Kyivska Perepichka is a few doors away on Bohdan Khmelnytsky. There's underground parking with 180 spaces if you're driving.

The building itself is worth a look on the way up. There's a free-form void through the centre carrying the lifts and escalators, so you can see most of the way up the building from the ground floor. The interior finishes are concrete-effect and the outside was inspired by the Marvel Pro, Sunrock and Etic Pro ranges.

TSUM turned 80 in 2019 and marked it with a book put together from archive photographs and accounts from staff past and present, with over 80 photos telling the story of the store.

The opera house is ten minutes' walk away if you're filling an evening after the shops shut.