Food & Drink
It used to be the case that supermarkets were for meat, bread and processed foods while fruit and vegetables were bought at the local produce market. Nowadays most supermarkets will sell some fruit and vegetables but not on the scale that you’ll be used to back home. The other thing you’ll notice is that the alcohol section is dominated by vodka, in the same way wine dominates the alcohol section of supermarkets in other countries.
If you have a rucksack or any other baggage with you then you’ll be expected to deposit it in one of the available lockers or hand it to a stressed-out old lady behind a counter at the entrance. She will swap it for a numbered hand-basket that corresponds with the pigeon-hole that she’ll put your bag in. It’ll be safe there but it’s best to be cautious and remove any valuables.
The selection of products in most shops is pretty standard but below is a list of some supermarkets that stand out as well as some speciality shops.
The brown tank you clicked on to reach this page is full of kvas, a popular fermented soft drink available across the city in the summer. It's available in 0.5l plastic cups or you can bring a bottle of any size and they'll fill it up for you.
Tsentralni (Централный)
Prospekt Nezavisimosti 23 (Проспект Независимости 23)
09:00-22:00 daily
Convenient location in the heart of the city, next to MacDonalds on Prospekt Nezavismosti. This large supermarket stocks a diverse selection of cheap local products and premium-priced imported brands and is always busy.
Korona hypermarket (Корона)
Kalvariyskaya 24 (Кальвариская 24)
Open 24 hours, daily
Minsk is slowly becoming a modern European city and it now boasts a handful of hypermarkets, with more due to open in the next year or so. None of them are particularly convenient if you don’t have your own transport but Korona is closest to the city centre, about 10 minutes walk from Frunzenskaya or Molodezhnaya metro stations. On a map it’s between the two where the main road crosses the railway line. The austere looking building just across the railway tracks is a local prison.
Preston Market (Престон Маркет)
Very Khoruzhey 29 (В.Хоружей 29)
09:00-21:00 daily
For many years this was the supermarket of choice for the small numbers that constituted an ex-pat community in Minsk. Now the community has practically disappeared (not that it was ever comparable with other European capitals) and Preston Market is being dwarfed by the hypermarkets opening across the city. But it still boasts one of the best selections of imported products in town.
Kamorovski Market (Комаровский рынок)
Very Khoruzhey 6 (В.Хоружей 6)
Closed Mondays
See markets!
Goryachi Hleb (Горячий Хлеб)
10:00-19:00 Mon-Fri, Closed Sat & Sun
Kiseleva 40, Киселева 40
“Hot Bread” is the appropriate name for this shop that sells fresh bread straight from the ovens of the adjacent and romantically named Bread Factory No.2. You’ll find this place round the back of the Church of St Mary Magdalene, which is the striking little church near the Hotel Belarus. There is also a bread shop next to the church, but the one round the back is better.
Gurmans
Karl Marksa 23 (Карла Маркса 23)
09:00-21:00 Mon-Fri, 11:00-21:00 Sat, Sun
A speciality tea shop with dozens of varieties on offer. At least 30 varieties are always available to try in their small cafe. The name only appears in English so I’ve not included a Russian translation.
Lakomka (Лакомка)
Prospekt Nezavisimosti 19 (Проспект Независимости 19)
The biggest sweet shop you’ve ever been in sells Belarusian and Russian chocolates in boxes of all shapes and sizes or you can pick ‘n’ mix (not self-service). The best Belarusian brands are Kommunarka (Коммунарка) from Minsk and Spartak (Спартак) from Gomel.
Kristall vodka
Oktyabrskaya 15 (Октябрьская 15)
09:00-20:00 (10:00-19:00)
The Kristall vodka distillery is one of the oldest in the world and has an international reputation for quality. It’s not far from the city centre, behind Minsk concert hall, which itself is behind the Dynamo Stadium. There is a very old-fashioned shop there where you can stock up.
An even better selection can be found at their modern shop in the Stolitsa shopping centre on Independence Square. Enter from the subway near the Hotel Minsk and it’s about eight shops down on the left. Here you will find a wide variety of vodkas in all sorts of different sized bottles and fancy packaging at prices so low it’ll make you weep.
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