The history of the Jabłkowscy brothers' family company can be described with one saying: from pony to millionaire. They started their business in Vilnius after the First World War.

The Jab łkowscy brothers family
The history of Warsaw's famous Jabłkowscy Brothers Department Store can be illustrated by the saying "from a beginner to a millionaire". In 1884, Józef Jabłkowski, a Warsaw entrepreneur and philanthropist, founded the informal family company "Spójnia" with his children and a tiny haberdashery shop in the basement at Widok Street. Four years later, the company-commercial partnership Bracia Jabłkowscy was established. In subsequent years, the company occupied increasingly larger premises and expanded its product range. Finally, in 1900, it rented a several-storey tenement house at 23 Bracka Street in Warsaw. Fourteen years later, on the neighbouring plot of land, a magnificent five-storey department store building was erected, designed by a well-known Warsaw tandem - Karol Jankowski and Franciszek Lilpop. The company was transformed into a joint-stock company and the building became known as the largest department store in the country, becoming a symbol of inter-war merchandising.

Vilnius Department Store Jabłkowscy Brothers - architecture
. Shortly after the end of the First World War, the Jablkowski brothers launched a branch in Vilnius: in 1919, the joint stock company Vilnius Department Store Jablkowski Brothers was established. The share capital of the Vilnius house was almost entirely owned by the Warsaw company. For the needs of the department store, a several-storey building on Mickiewicza Street (now Gediminas Avenue) at the corner of Wileńska Street was taken over, the construction of which had already begun before the First World War. Originally, it was to house the shop of brothers Adam and Władysław Zawadzki.

The great advantage of the building (apart from its location on the most representative street in the city) was its location, thanks to which several shop windows overlooked three streets. The building was in a shell state, so installations, floors, lifts and central heating had to be installed, and the interior had to be decorated, furnished and stocked.

Installation and finishing work began in 1921. Work progressed rather slowly, as it was difficult to obtain suitable materials locally and to engage contractors, while funds were obtained from Warsaw. In 1923, the work was completed.

The monumental, cuboidal building with slightly rounded corners served as an architectural landmark in this part of Mickiewicza Street. The structural layout, designed by architect Kazimierz Krzyżanowski, was based on a reinforced concrete skeleton construction with a multi-storey open hall. This was a typical solution of the large department stores of the period.

The architectural design of the building was the work of the designers of the Warsaw headquarters, Jankowski and Lilpop. It was set in the tradition of modernised classicism: the architects used balanced, simple forms with a large-order rhythm of lisens, supported by an antic, arcaded ground floor plinth (large display windows were installed in the arcades). In the façade part, the lisens were replaced by four prominent pilasters, creating a kind of recessed portico.

Jabłkowscy Brothers - assortment
At the beginning of 1924, the ground floor was opened with a shop selling men's underwear and haberdashery, hats and gauge confectionery, as well as porcelain, glass and table cutlery. A small corner was occupied by a confectionery kiosk. On the first floor, one could buy wool, cotton and silks. Soon, stalls selling carpets, upholstery fabrics, capes, kilims and furniture were placed on the second floor and a tailor's shop was opened. The third floor housed a textile wholesaler's shop and the fourth and final floor housed offices and administration.

The years of the great economic crisis left a painful imprint on the Vilnius department store. For a period the shop remained under receivership, then resumed normal operations, but only in the underground and on the ground floor. Both the financial possibilities of the company and the needs of the Vilnius market did not allow for wider operations. The first floor was rented out to the private Bank of the Union of Economic Companies, while the remaining floors were taken over by the Trade and Economic Institute, which opened a school there.

The Jabłkowscy Brothers - the inter-war years and the following
. Better times came in the 1930s, when Edward Kuligowski, hitherto head of textile and confectionery purchasing at the Warsaw headquarters, was appointed manager of the department store and posted to Vilnius. The capital's trade and marketing methods, applied by Kuligowski, allowed the previous prestige to be restored relatively quickly. In 1937, the Bank of the Union of Charitable Companies moved into its own building and the department store took over the first floor. By the end of the interwar period, the assortment had been greatly expanded and, as a result, was only marginally inferior to the head office.

In 1939, the Vilnius department store employed 120 workers. Their social affairs were of particular concern to the management. There was a library attached to the establishment, subsidised annually with 3,000 zlotys, ski and tennis equipment was funded for the employees involved in sports, subscriptions were paid for the tennis courts, subscriptions to the rowing club and a coach for the skiers.

After the Soviet aggression at the end of September 1939, the shop was confiscated and the goods were sent to the Soviet Union. In the post-war period the commercial function was restored.