The stores in the complex, located on the Malecón, sold in hard currency and were out of stock.
14ymedio, Havana, Natalia López Moya and José Lassa, 29 May 2025 — The sea is no excuse. This is well known to the residents of the Havana coast and also the customers who arrive these days at the Paseo Galleries, a few meters from the Malecón. Rust and neglect have taken over one of the most important shopping centers in the Cuban capital, a symbol of an economic upswing that fueled hopes at the beginning of this century. What’s left is a large empty store with littered floors full of rubbish.
Under this May’s sun, as hot as in August, a woman pushing a baby carriage advanced on Tuesday towards the doorway that was once full of taxi drivers, announcing trips to all the municipalities of Havana, and customers with their hands full of bags with newly purchased products. “They told me it was still open and that’s why I came,” grumbled the woman, who, instead of carrying a small child, used the carriage to carry some yuccas and a piece of pumpkin.
“They closed it today because they’re fixing something with the electricity,” explained a resident in the vicinity who was passing in front of the pile of concrete and glass. “It’s empty; they also closed it for repairs and to turn it into a hard currency store,” ventured another passerby, who estimates that “before December” the new dollarized version of the store complex would be open. A few meters away, the “Magic World” sign on the old children’s store looked like it wouldn’t be able to last that long.
The closing also coincides with complaints on social networks about the poor state of the property and the shortage of goods on its premises. Images of empty refrigerators and dusty shelves raised a wave of indignation that seems to have contributed to the cancellation of service.
“It was one of the few places around here where you could still pay with MLC [freely convertible currency],” someone commented. That intangible currency, which barely a decade ago opened the doors of better-stocked markets, is now in full retreat on the island, although the authorities insist they will not eliminate it for the time being. The food market, with a butcher’s shop that alternated chorizos with pork loins, was often continue reading
With the same speed that the wealthiest buyers exchanged the corridors of the Galleries for the narrow airplane aisles, the building’s floor began to show gaps. The holes forced customers who went to the market, located on the first floor, to walk carefully to avoid falls. It also began to have a shortage of merchandise, and the boutiques were transformed into storehouses for ugly and smelly clothing.
But now, there is not even that. A young man emerged from his car and became another frustrated customer who came across a building that seems to have been abandoned and closed, waiting for dollarization to revive its spaces and refill its warehouses. “I came to buy some mosquito spray that they told me was here on the ground floor, but you can see that it’s not going to open today,” he said.
On the same ground floor, two decades ago, customers were delighted to see a well-stocked hardware store where the first single-handle faucets used by Cubans in their bathrooms were sold as a novelty. “People came from all over the country because we had everything,” recalls an employee who worked as a cashier in those years when the business center was synonymous with good taste and abundance. “We even had jacuzzis to sell,” she recalls.
Now, however, the sliding doors of the main entrance, which previously came down only when a hurricane was announced, are closed. The sea has left its signature on them, a rubric that is also seen on the reflective window panes that were once one of the architectural novelties of the property. Some are stained and others cracked, and the glass no longer reflects people and appliances, but only a deteriorated and empty environment.
“Home cleaning supplies,” can still be read on a part of the facade that once faced the Water and Soap chain, managed by the Italsav company throughout Cuba. The false ceiling that was partly collapsed, the completely empty shelves and not a soul inside the premises speak for themselves, even if no sign announces the closure of the business.
Contrast the fall into disgrace of this space with the central market that Berto Savina Tito, president of Italsav, has just opened; his relationship with Castroism has been known for decades. Last April, the firm opened Variedades Galiano Casalinda, in Central Havana, a showy store created by a joint venture with the Cuban state, offering “products for the home and the person” in dollars, with the Classic card or US bills.
Right in front of the hotel Cohiba, the Paseo Galleries have not yet had the luck to be able to collect hard currency, perhaps the cause of their current ruin. To go green, you need the greenbacks that have not arrived. That delay is bad news for guests of the hotel, directly across from the shopping complex, who used to cross the street to stock up at the food market or buy some sunscreen and flip-flops for the beach. Also to have fun in the evening at the Jazz Café.
But many of those travelers, who had planned to view the market from their hotel rooms, have now gone in the direction of the Dominican Republic or Cancun. And the new rich who went there now shop at Walmart or Home Depot, on the other side of the Florida Straits.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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