Core Metal Shop is a specialist rock and metal merchandise shop in Kyiv, Ukraine. Established in 1994, it is one of the country’s longest-running businesses of its kind. Today the shop is located at the Darynok market-mall near Lisova metro station, where it sells band clothing, patches, flags, jewellery, belts, bags, footwear, accessories, music and concert tickets. The selection covers rock broadly, with a particularly strong focus on heavy metal and extreme metal.
During the mid-1990s, Core Metal Shop operated at Zlatoustivska Street 30, close to the Kyiv Circus. At a time when specialist rock and metal merchandise was still difficult to find in Ukraine, the shop became both a retailer and a meeting place for the local metal community. Early stock included music cassettes, bandanas, patches, badges, caps and shirts, with much of the merchandise imported from Poland. Musicians from Kyiv bands including Adem and Infected also worked at the shop, further strengthening its connection to the city’s underground scene.
The Zlatoustivska premises were also connected to Kyiv’s developing music industry. Moon, the company that later became Moon Records, occupied space on the upper floor, while Core was involved in the distribution of imported CDs, copied cassettes and underground metal releases. Before new music became easily available online, shops such as Core played an important role in bringing international releases to Ukrainian metal fans.
Core Metal Shop has also been closely connected with concerts in Kyiv. The shop has served as a physical ticket outlet for numerous rock and metal events, and in 2004 U.D.O. vocalist and former Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider appeared there for an autograph session during a visit to the city. Concert advertisements from the period also list Core as a distributor of both event tickets and underground releases.
The shop later moved from Zlatoustivska and now operates as both a physical and online retailer. Its catalogue contains thousands of items covering everything from classic rock and traditional heavy metal to thrash, death and black metal. More than three decades after opening, Core Metal Shop remains a long-established part of Kyiv’s rock and metal scene.
ADDRESS:
Yakova Hnizdovskoho St, 1а, Kyiv, Ukraine, 02000
Back to Kyiv.