A vacation tour of the main shopping streets of Warsaw showed the impact the pandemic and the spring lockdown had had on the owners of shops, boutiques, service points, restaurants and cafes.

It included the surprising closures of several food and drinks establishments that had been successfully operating in the capital for years. For instance, the Dom Polski restaurant, with a number of locations, one of which was a house at 11 Francuska. The Secado restaurant, which disappeared from the first floor of a tenement house at the corner of Marszałkowska and Wilcza Streets, or the Ed Red restaurant, famous for its steaks, occupying a floor in the historical spaces of the Hala Mirowska. Mokotowska Street also had to say goodbye to one of its showpieces, the Talerzyki restaurant. At the same time, new restaurants appeared on the main shopping streets, such as Flaming&Co, currently in the process of readying its second location, previously occupied by the Biała restaurant. The Eat and Drink in Francuska Street, the Głód Miasta restaurant with traditional Polish cuisine on Marszałkowska Street or, last but not least, the Nobu restaurant, opened in a brand new building at 73 Wilcza Street, in a hotel of the same name.

After many years, Empik vacates the Wars Sawa Junior Department Store, alongside Martes Sport and Miniso, both with a considerably shorter history in this very location. 

Among the tenants with premises located on shopping streets, the Ermenegildo Zegna luxury store at plac Trzech Krzyży  is worth particularly noting. Having recently moved from the Dom Dochodowy o Trzech Frontach at the corner of Ujazdowskie Avenue to the Ethos office building across the square, it is currently being prepared for opening.

At 4a Nowy Świat, the Zagrywki has opened. Poland’s first activity bar, it has filled a long-vacant place.

And we couldn't forget about the newly opened retail and service units on Grzybowska Street, where the Browary Warszawskie project has been launched.