The Saint Petersburg-based merchants, the Eliseevs (owners of the famous Eliseyev Emporium) in Saint Petersburg), made their fortune in the wholesale trade of "colonial goods" - mainly imported fruits; by the second half of the 19th century, the main product of the family partnership was wines imported from Europe, aged and bottled in Russia, other product groups in which the Eliseevs had large turnovers by the end of the 19th century - olive oil (divided at that time, depending on the variety, into "Provencal" and "wood"), coffee, tea, sardines, cheese.

[2] Baranovsky directly supervised the reconstruction project, Eliseev gave him autonomy in matters of purchasing materials, hiring and firing workers,[2] architects Vladimir Voeikov and Marian Peretyatkovich were involved in the design of the interiors.

[4] The reconstruction lasted three years, during which time the house was covered with dense wooden scaffolding, which was not previously practiced in Russia and ensured the interest of the townspeople in the construction, including giving rise to rumors about the non-standard purpose of the premises.

[3] The main reconstruction that the mansion underwent was the unification of the first and second floors (the "basement" and "dress circle" in 19th-century terms), the high rooms thus formed housed retail spaces.

[6] The interiors of the retail space were designed in the neo-baroque style: massive figured columns with gilded capitals, arches, ceiling solutions for vaults with covings and large crystal chandeliers were used.

[15] It is noteworthy that some of the product names in the commercial store were deliberately archaic, not used in Soviet times ("landrin" for candies, "French buns", "Jewish sausage").

[17] One example of this type of relationship was the "evenings of relaxation" organized for the grocery store workforce with performances by famous Soviet artists, who, instead of a fee, received the opportunity to purchase food products that were not available for open sale.

[18] Shortly before the death of General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in 1982, the KGB began surveillance of Director Sokolov, secretly equipping his office with microphones and television surveillance, which resulted in the discovery of subordinates handing him money in envelopes; in late October of that year, the director and his deputy Nemtsev, as well as department heads Svezhinsky, Yakovlev, Konkov and Grigoriev, were arrested on charges of "large-scale theft of food products and bribery".

[19] However, after Brezhnev's death and the beginning of the arrests of employees of the Ministry of Trade and directors of Moscow stores close to Churbanov, Sokolov began to give frank testimony, revealing, among other things, the recipients of his bribes among the Soviet leaders.

[10] The case was fully investigated by the KGB without involving the police, quickly grew and gave rise to a cascade of criminal cases around the entire system of Moscow trade, as a result of which more than 15 thousand people were brought to criminal responsibility, and 174 officials were arrested on charges of bribery and theft of state property,[10] among those arrested were the directors of the central grocery stores of Moscow - Novoarbatsky, Smolensky, and the grocery store in GUM.

[24] In 2002, 90% of the shares of ZAO Eliseevsky Magazin, which had the right to a long-term lease of the grocery store premises, were bought from the workforce by structures of Yakov Yakubov, the owner of a large number of retail spaces on Tverskaya, as well as the Moscow casinos Korona and Golden Palace.

Under these conditions, Trifonov also agreed to sell his stake, and in a short period of time, Yakubov's structures, having paid about $650 thousand, concentrated about 90% of the company's shares.

[21] If in Soviet times the store premises were redecorated almost every year and the formal appearance was preserved, then during the first period of independence the interiors fell into disrepair: the ceramic floor tiles were worn out, the plaster was falling off in fragments, the gilded elements were dull, and the existing lighting solution gave the shop a gloomy look.

[26] In the spring of 2003, an investment contract was concluded with the Government of Moscow, providing for the closure of the shop for reconstruction to restore the building and premises, on condition that the main profile - a grocery store - was preserved.

Among the recreated characteristic decorative elements are gilding on the capitals and grilles, stucco moldings, large ceiling crystal chandeliers made in the form of grape vines were restored,[27] and the Metlakh floor tiles were replaced.

The wine department was restored in the same room where it was located at the beginning of the 20th century, but the entrance to it is organized not from Kozitsky Lane, as it was in Eliseev's time, but from the main food sales area.