What was the 'Children’s World' in Tbilisi like before

This video was taken a few weeks before the fire. We wanted to show the environment that hadn’t changed in that building for years.

Alongside the soviet-time interior and signboards, you will also find in this video an inscription that reads: ‘Smoking in the building is strictly prohibited!’

The Children’s World trade center was built in Soviet times and was initially designed for selling toys and children’ essentials.

Later, in the 90s, the building was reshaped into the trade center. Carpets, chandeliers, crockery and other household items were available here along with the children’s goods. Stalls were leased here for individual vendors. A part of the building was allotted to the gold items’ section. The building hadn’t been repaired since communist times and Russian-language inscriptions could be found everywhere here.

The Children’s World building caught on fire at 3 a.m., on January 30. It took the firemen 8 hours to put out the fire. Although there have been no reports on casualties, but the 3,000sq.m. area of the building has been burned to the ground.Dozens of vendors, who leased stalls in the trade center, have been affected. Goods stored in the nearby warehouses have been also burned down.  As of July 2016 data, the balance value of the building totaled GEL 6,344,779.