A video posted on Facebook shows the location of the former store Ekloh, on 42nd street in Miramar, completely closed and in a state of neglect, evoking nostalgia and lament among Cubans who remember its former glory.
The recording, shared by the user Mayda Limia, shows the building at the intersection of 39A and 42 streets, in the Playa municipality, Havana.
"The grandmother reporting. I was asked to check the Ekloh and here it is, closed," says Limia as she tours the area and documents the abandonment of the establishment."
The comments on the video reflect the collective pain in response to the image: "It was a wonder", expressed a Cuban while reminiscing about what that store was like in its heyday.
Ekloh was one of the most modern supermarket chains in Republican Cuba. Originally founded by a German pharmacist named Eklöh, it was acquired in 1957 by the Panamanian businessman David H. Brandon Maduro, who was also the owner of Minimax Supermarkets.
Together, Ekloh and Minimax established the first modern retail chain in Cuba, with a total of 11 stores. Ekloh's main location was precisely at 42nd Street #3910, in the Almendares neighborhood, Miramar, the same building that appears closed in the video.
The chain was a pioneer in introducing air-conditioned self-service, shopping carts, imported products, and credit card acceptance, in the style of American supermarkets, competing with the traditional bodegas of the time.
After the triumph of the Revolution, the government of Fidel Castro confiscated Ekloh and Minimax between 1960 and 1962, as part of the massive nationalization of private companies, without any compensation. Brandon emigrated to the United States and passed away in Miami Beach at over 90 years old.
The abandonment of Ekloh is not an isolated case, but part of a widespread trend of decline in Havana's commerce. The Galerías Paseo in Vedado have been in a dilapidated state since at least 2024, and the ruins of the former RCA Víctor store were demolished that same year, removing another historic commercial symbol of the capital.
In January of this year, actor Ray Cruz reported on the condition of the Carlos III Shopping Center, describing it as a place "empty, with four children on two machines."
The economic crisis, the shortage of products, the enforced dollarization of trade, and the structural abandonment of the Cuban State explain the collapse of the commercial infrastructure in Havana, which painfully contrasts with the memories of what these stores represented for generations of Cubans.
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