Akmolinsk. Shopping arcade

Noticeable growth of the town was observed in 1890-1891. With its budget increase, the building of the house of the local board, fire-tower, stone Alexandro-Nevsky Cathedral, merchant mansions, shops, and storage facilities began.

        In 1890, municipal authorities took a credit in one of the Russian banks and built a shopping arcade in the central square - two one-storeyed buildings that occupied the whole block in front and more than 100 metres in depth. Sheds leaning on the cast-iron pillars extended along the buildings over the front iron door and latticed windows. There flaunted bulky signboards written in Russian and Arabic print. In front of the shops, there were timber tethers dug into the ground for the customers coming from villages and auls to tether their horses and camels. Sections and the whole stores were rented to native and newly arrived merchants. They sold multifarious imported industrial and grocery goods.

        In Soviet times, this shopping mall was called Green rows as the iron doors of the stores were painted green. Sheds with the cast-iron pillars and tethers were destroyed before the Great Patriotic War. Nowadays, at the place of the demolished complex, there is a business centre «Sine Tempore».