Let's start with the legend. The founder of the future trading empire of the Eliseev brothers was named Petr Kasatkin, but his patronymic was actually Eliseevich. He was a serf gardener of Count Sheremetev. One winter day, the gardener surprised the count by serving him fresh wild strawberries for dessert. Petr Kasatkin grew the berries in a greenhouse, and when the count enthusiastically said, "Ask for whatever you want!" he did not hesitate and blurted out, "Freedom!" Having saved money, Petr bought his brother's freedom, and they registered as merchants under the name Eliseev, in memory of their father.

However, this is nothing more than marketing or a Cinderella legend. It is documented that the Eliseev family came from the village of Novoselki, located near Yaroslavl, and the founder of the merchant dynasty himself was never a serf. Novoselki was state property, and the peasants were considered free, although they paid taxes and dues, so they did not need permission to engage in trade. If Petr ever served Sheremetev, he definitely was not a serf.

At the age of 37, Petr Eliseev, a "state settler," moved to St. Petersburg with his wife and three sons: Sergey, Grigory, and Stepan. They settled in the house of merchant Konon Kotomin (also a native of Yaroslavl province) on Nevsky Prospect, where they also opened a shop.

Trade in St. Petersburg was then mainly held by people from Yaroslavl, who were considered delicate, enterprising, hardworking, and cold-blooded, as well as those who were not afraid to "get their faces and hands dirty with neither dust nor boot grease." For example, in 1867, 323 out of 415 green grocery shops in St. Petersburg belonged to people from Yaroslavl. In his shop, Petr sold the best foreign and domestic products, expensive wines, and other "colonial goods." "In shop No. 6, fresh Crimean pears and various Kiev fruit jams received these days, large bumpy dates, Swiss dried quinces, the best Parmesan cheese at 7 rubles per pound, Swiss, Dutch, and English best cheeses are sold," wrote the "St. Petersburg Gazette" in 1814.

By the end of 1818, Petr had saved enough funds to enter the merchant class of the 3rd guild. It was then that, "honoring the good memory of his father," Petr registered under the name Eliseev. A couple of years later, the merchant rented a large storage space for imported goods on the territory of the St. Petersburg customs, and in 1824 opened another shop on the Exchange Line of Vasilievsky Island, right near the port. The Eliseev "family nest" gradually formed on Vasilievsky Island.

The firm was widely known in Europe; the Eliseevs cooperated with major trading houses in England, Germany, and Italy, and had their own wine cellars on the island of Madeira and in Bordeaux. Wine cellars were also built in St. Petersburg. In addition, the Eliseevs traded in coffee, confectionery products, fruits, and cheeses.

After Grigory Eliseev's death in 1892, the firm was headed by his son Grigory Grigorievich. It was he who had the idea of creating large gastronomic signature stores. One of them was built according to the project of architect Baranovsky on Nevsky Prospect. At that time, "colonial" goods included: grape wine, coffee, tea, rice, Provençal and country butter, various types of olive oil, cheeses, spices, sardines, anchovies, rum, truffles, and more.

The Art Nouveau style building of the store stands out against the backdrop of classical architecture with its unusual appearance. Everything was aimed at attracting the attention of potential buyers. The huge three-story building was as tall as a six-story one. On the first floor, there were three trading halls exquisitely decorated in Art Nouveau style with numerous mirrors and lamps. On the second floor of the building were a bank, commercial courses, and a hall rented out to theatrical troupes; later a theater was opened there. The basement housed warehouses, refrigerators, and one of the best wine cellars in Europe.

The building is crowned with a roof of whimsical shape with turrets. Immediately noticeable are the huge stained-glass windows on both facades, visually light, with an openwork metal frame. The stained glass is set in massive stone frames. Allegorical figures symbolizing trade, industry, sciences, and arts decorate the corners of the building at the level of the second floor.

There is a legend that immediately after the revolution, the Eliseevs melted down all the family gold and made a chandelier out of it, which was hung in the central hall of the store so that it could later be taken out as a simple piece of furniture if they had to flee. But this is yet another beautiful legend. Long before that, in 1914, the activities of the Eliseev empire were wound down, and perhaps not only late love but also merchant intuition prompted this decision. The 50-year-old Grigory fell in love with Vera Vasilyeva, a "divorced wife of a Petrograd merchant," and asked his wife Maria Andreevna for a divorce; in October 1914, she committed suicide from grief. Three weeks after the funeral, which Eliseev did not attend, he remarried, closed the partnership, moved to Paris, and transferred all the capital there. None of Grigory's children wanted to continue the family business. And he himself supposedly stopped doing business.

In Soviet times, the official name of the store was "Gastronom No. 1," but the people of Leningrad continued to call it the Eliseevsky store. Old historical names are very much alive in the city on the Neva and are passed down from generation to generation.

The reopening after reconstruction took place in 2012, and by the New Year holidays, the windows were decorated with the participation of Mikhail Shemyakin using images he created for the new production of the ballet The Nutcracker.

Sources:

https://saint-petersburg.ru/m/history/emtsov/371305/

Lisovsky V.G. Architecture of Petersburg, Three Centuries of History.