Every Minsk resident knows the Galleria Minsk shopping center: TikTokers film street interviews here, schoolchildren occupy the food court, and fashionistas shop at the mass market. But if you look away and take literally a hundred steps, a completely different reality of the capital’s retail landscape opens up before you. On a single patch of land, three entirely different spaces coexist, each with its own unique atmosphere: the legendary “Nemiga‑3,” the pompous “Metropol,” and the nostalgic Trading House “Na Nemige.” We walked through these locations to see what they are selling now and whether people still visit them.

Nemiga 3

Shopping at Nemiga has long become part of the city’s folklore: while schoolchildren and tourists crowd Galleria Minsk, just across the street stands one of the symbols of mid‑2010s Belarusian offline business—the Nemiga‑3 shopping center.

It officially opened in the fall of 2012 and at the time was positioned almost as the capital’s main fashion hub. Archive news from those years mentioned three hundred pavilions and high‑profile brands—from Dolce & Gabbana and Lacoste to Timati’s Black Star merchandise and luxury lingerie boutiques. The rent per square meter on the ground floor then was a hefty €60 at the exchange rate.

After years, Nemiga‑3 looks entirely different. Pompous stores have given way to small individual enterprises, and the mall itself has become a