The Central Department Store (, ''Tsentralen universalen magazin,'' abbreviated as TSUM) is an upmarket
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
in the centre of
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, the capital of
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, officially opened in 1957 and situated in a monumental edifice (part of
The Largo complex) on one of the city's main boulevards.
History
The store's construction began in 1955 and ended in the end of 1956, when the first customers entered TZUM. It was officially opened with a ceremony in 1957. The edifice was designed by architect Kosta Nikolov and has an area of 20,570 m². It features a covered inner yard taking up the centre of five of the building's seven floors.
TSUM underwent major reconstruction in 1986 under the direction of architect Atanas Nikolov. Two years later, 120,000 people daily went through the store, which sold 123,000 items a day. After the
democratic changes in 1989, the store remained public property until sold to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
fund manager, Regent Pacific Group, for the price of
DM 30 million (about
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...
15 million). Regent then invested $10.2 million in 1999–2000 to redevelop the property into a mixed-use office and retail building. TSUM was transformed to become a place for expensive
boutique
A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...
s rather than a store for the people, with the daily number of customers falling to 7,000.
Plovdiv
Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...
businessman Georgi Gergov acquired TSUM on 19 October 2004.
Tenants
, world brands like
Laura Ashley
Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s ...
,
Timberland,
Nautica
Nautica is an American apparel brand owned by Authentic Brands Group (ABG) and manufactured and marketed by Catalyst Brands featuring primarily men's, women's, children's apparel and accessories, as well as home, watches, and fragrance. Nautica ...
,
Fila
Fila (; ) is a South Korean-owned athleisure brand headquartered in Seoul. The company was originally founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Italy. Fila Korea acquired the brand in 2007 and launched its initial p ...
,
Fred Perry
Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former World number 1 male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam (tennis), ...
,
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...
,
Mexx
Mexx is a fashion brand of HVEG Fashion Group that was created in the Netherlands by Rattan Chadha in 1986 by merging his brands Moustache (for men) and Emmanuelle (for women). The brand's name is a combination of two of Chadha's previous bu ...
,
Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( ; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger (company), Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.
After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's P ...
,
Swarovski
Swarovski (, ) is an Austrian producer of glass based in Wattens, Tyrol. It was founded in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski.
The company is split into three major industry areas: the Swarovski Crystal Business, which primarily produces crystal glas ...
,
Miss Sixty
Miss Sixty (stylized as MISS SIXTY or MISS 60) is an Italian fashion brand specializing in denim ready-to-wear and fashion accessories.
History
Micky Hassan founded Miss Sixty in 1991.
In 2000, they launched their own line of footwear, followed ...
,
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...
,
Bagatt,
Altınbaş and
Rossignol had stores in TSUM. The rent levels are one of the highest in Bulgaria, only competing with the neighbouring
Vitosha Boulevard
Vitosha Boulevard (, often called just , Vitoshka) is the main commercial street in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, which has stores, restaurants and bars. It extends from the St Nedelya Square to the Southern Park. Many high-end fa ...
. According to the manager Tsvetomir Gergov, 12,000 people visited the store per day.
As of early 2023, besides a few stores in the main lobby and restaurants on the ground floor, the building has been emptied of all tenants with the official website marketing it as office spaces.
See also
*
List of malls in Sofia
This is a list of shopping malls in Bulgaria. Currently 32 malls are active in the country.
Sofia
* Paradise Center (2013) (GLA 80,000 m2)
* Sofia Ring Mall (2014) (GLA 69,000 m2)
* The Mall (2010) (GLA 62,000 m2)
* Serdika Center Sofia (2 ...
*
State Universal Store
GUM () is a shopping center in Moscow, Russia. It was also the main department store in many cities of the former Soviet Union; similarly named stores operated in some Soviet republics and in post-Soviet states.
The most famous GUM is the lar ...
in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
References
*
*
External links
Official website
{{Shopping malls in Sofia
Commercial buildings completed in 1956
1957 establishments in Bulgaria
Department stores of Bulgaria
Shops in Sofia