And-one suspects-full of shops stocking goods which many Muscovites will be unable to afford :(
Agreed :) But on the other hand - how many Londoners do their weekly shop at Fortnum & Mason's ;) Nor is the economic situation of the majority of Muscovites that parlous, in fact. At more sensibly-priced shopping centres - I like "Metropolis", which is at Voikovskaya metro station - there are thronging crowds packed into mid-price shops like Zara, Gap and so on. And these really are 'majority Muscovites'.
"Shopping Centres" are very popular in Russia because of the climate - it's winter here for 5 months of the year, so wandering around freezing your fingers off outdoors isn't conducive to "retail therapy".
