Moscow Is Losing Landmarks of Its Post-Soviet Cultural Life: Clubs, Bookstores and Markets Close
Many symbols of Moscow's independent cultural scene from the 1990s and 2000s, including clubs, cafes, bookstores and markets, have closed or are about to. The reasons are rising rents and redevelopment of the sites.
In Russia's capital, Moscow, places that shaped the city's independent cultural life after the collapse of the Soviet Union are gradually disappearing. According to the outlet Meduza, clubs, cafes, bookstores and markets are closing as rents and other costs rise and the sites they occupy are increasingly redeveloped.
Moscow's first generation of post-Soviet clubs and independent businesses was mostly short-lived, and most closed within 15 years. Those that survived into the 2020s gained cult status. They included the club Propaganda, the cafe Saigon and a newer favorite, the motorcycle cafe Entuziast.
Closed venues
In the Khokhlovka arts quarter in the Kitay-Gorod neighborhood, spaces had been rented cheaply to shops and workshops. The last tenants left at the end of 2025. A fence now surrounds the district, and under a plan by the architecture firm Ginzburg Architects it is to become a commercial quarter with cafes and galleries. Nearby on Pokrovka Street, the Khodasevich bookstore, open since 2012 and known for rare editions and samizdat publications, closed in April 2026 after its basement premises were taken for major renovation. Its founder, writer Stas Gaivoronsky, said that trying to speak out had become dangerous over time, and an employee said censorship had forced the shop to keep pulling books from sale.
In Taganka, the club Powerhouse, open since 2013, held its farewell party on March 14, 2026, after debts forced it to close. Propaganda, founded in 1997, closed in 2024 without an official reason, and the same day the team's cafe Lyudi kak Lyudi also announced its closure. The Saigon cafe on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street closed in 2024, while Entuziast shut last year for lengthy renovations, and it is unclear whether it will reopen.
Markets
Moscow authorities have been trying to curb informal market trading since the late 1990s. Land has become much more expensive, clothing and electronics markets are losing popularity as sales move online. Housing of almost 60,000 square meters is planned on the site of Koptevsky Market, demolition of Elektronika na Presne began in 2024, and Savyolovsky Market has been included in a comprehensive area development project but remains open for now.
