“Hence the name ‘Bar,’ because everyone can find something for themselves.”
Victor Kochetov (translated from Polish)
Asked which perfume ingredients we like, we may not have an immediate answer. Yet we can picture a forest in the morning or the smell of a house where we once lived. The Polish perfume shop Mood Scent Bar has valued conversations that approach perfume through associations like these.
Founded in Warsaw, the shop brings together perfumes by different creators, from Comme des Garçons to Nasomatto and Marc-Antoine Barrois. Rather than simply displaying the founder’s favorites, it seeks a bottle that fits an individual’s memories or the time they hope to spend ahead. It has built a broad collection for that purpose.
Essential Information
- Name: Mood Scent Bar
- Founded: 2013
- Founder: Victor Kochetov
- Origins and main base: Warsaw, Poland, with shops in several Polish cities
- Business: Multi-brand niche perfume specialist, with an online shop
- Official website: Mood Scent Bar
The Founder and the Shop’s Origins
Growing Up in Russia, Then Moving From Paris to Warsaw
Kochetov grew up in Russia, studied in Paris, and settled in Warsaw. Poland was also the homeland he had imagined through his grandmother’s stories. Asked in 2021 what Warsaw smelled like, he answered:
“For me, Warsaw is a city reclaimed, so it smells like home.”
Victor Kochetov (translated from Polish)
He was particularly attached to Powiśle, the district where he also lived. The scent of the linden tree beside his home drifting through the window was another reason the city felt like his own place.
His path did not focus exclusively on perfume from the beginning. Torn between art and medicine, he studied medicine and then psychology, before also working in interior design. Around the time he entered the fragrance business, he was involved in questions of how to display perfumes and communicate them to people. An interest in the senses and the work of creating spaces would both connect to his later perfume shop.
From Importing Perfume to the Shop in 2013
Encountering 2 by Comme des Garçons in the late 1990s was a major discovery for him. His curiosity about perfume expanded into work considering its reception in the market, and he began importing it himself.
Before opening a shop in Warsaw, he sold niche perfume with his brother in Kraków, also delivering fragrances to customers in the capital. Mood Scent Bar was founded in 2013. He chose Tamka Street, a place he loved. The premises were in poor condition, and renovation would have cost less elsewhere, but this was where he wanted the shop. An interview in early 2014 already discussed perfumes reminiscent of bread and adhesive tape, while also describing a service approach that used conversation to establish what the other person was looking for.
If the task were simply to display unusual scents as curiosities, a shop’s role would end there. Here, finding out who might need a particular fragrance, and for what occasion, became the work of the sales floor.
The Two Meanings of “Mood” and “Bar”
“Mood” refers to a feeling or state of mind. For Kochetov, choosing perfume is also a way of preparing oneself for the day. Just as he meditates in the morning and considers the day’s plans, he chooses a fragrance to suit its mood and tasks.
“Bar,” meanwhile, carries the idea of a place where varied perfumes come together and each person finds their own bottle. The business began by writing a manifesto, stating that fragrance should not be reduced to merely air with a pleasant smell. Bringing together different creators from around the world and offering individual attention were not separate policies.
Historical Timeline
| Period | Event |
|---|---|
| Late 1990s | Kochetov discovers Comme des Garçons 2. |
| Before the founding | Works in perfume market analysis and importing, and sells niche perfume with his brother in Kraków, also supplying Warsaw customers. |
| 2013 | Founds Mood Scent Bar. |
| 2021 | Creates a Warsaw-inspired fragrance for SCOPES driven by Porsche. |
| January 2023 | Architectural publications feature the interior on Bracka Street, Warsaw. At this point, the business is described as having five shops in Warsaw, Poznań, and Wrocław. |
| August 2026 | The official website presents the new shop at Nowogrodzka 38, announcing it as the eleventh Mood Scent Bar. |
The Shop’s Thinking: Connecting Selection and Sampling
From Prominent Niche Names to Creators in Different Regions
The official online shop checked in October 2026 carries Comme des Garçons, Nasomatto, Orto Parisi, Marc-Antoine Barrois, Mizensir, 27 87, and Room 1015, among others. For example, the Barrois page lists Ganymede, Tilia, B683, and Encelade. Rather than centering on a single house brand, it is a curated shop where customers can compare several perfume brands.
The new Nowogrodzka shop places historic L.T. Piver and Satinine in the same space as Atelier Materi, Chambre52, and Vietnam’s d’Annam. Its breadth welcomes old houses and new independents, Europe and other regions, onto one sales floor.
However, the official online selection is not identical to daily stock or the fragrances available to sample in each shop. Visitors wanting to try a particular perfume should check with that location.
Asking About Associations Before Ingredient Names
“The first impression matters most, followed by conversation.”
Victor Kochetov (translated excerpt from Polish)
The conversation asks not only which smells people like, but also what they evoke and what they expect from perfume. Some want something for work; others seek a fragrance suited to an evening dinner. Knowledge of perfume ingredients is not a prerequisite for a consultation.
The official manifesto likewise explains that finding perfume is not only about smelling: it means discovering a relationship between someone’s personality and a fragrance’s composition. It explicitly rejects stereotypes about age, occupation, and gender. Rather than directing everyone with a particular characteristic toward the same scent, the policy is designed to ask how each person wants to be.
Kochetov himself does not believe there is one answer for everyone.
“I don’t think there is one solution for everyone, because everyone has different memories and experiences.”
Victor Kochetov (translated excerpt from Polish)
Seen this way, a fragrance’s unusualness is not an end in itself. The same smell may be pleasant to one person and not to another. Offering enough choice to accommodate those differences gives the multi-brand shop its purpose.
Shop Interiors That Change With the City and Building
Expansion into several cities has not meant reproducing identical interiors. Architect Zofia Wyganowska’s Wrocław shop makes use of wood, while the Poznań shop is based around gray. On Bracka Street in Warsaw, the design uses bolder colors and marine motifs.
The Bracka shop has a mural interpreting coral colonies geometrically, turquoise furniture, and a central island made with red Alicante marble from Spain. Perfume bottles stand on brass shelves, while mirrors reflect the patterns on the walls. Rather than literally recreating the sea, the space evokes associations through color, materials, and reflections.
The Nowogrodzka shop presented in 2026 occupies the ground floor of a building from 1962. Retained concrete columns and existing terrazzo windowsills are combined with mosaics of marble and travertine. The windowsills both display products and offer a place to sit and look at the space and perfumes. Different scenes in each shop support time spent paying attention to scent.
Visiting the Shops, Starting in Warsaw
Warsaw is where the business began and remains its main base, but its shops are not confined to the capital. The official address list checked in October 2026 includes the following locations.
| City | Officially Listed Shop and Address |
|---|---|
| Warsaw | Nowogrodzka: Nowogrodzka 38 / Niche Perfumery: Tamka 33 / Savage: Bracka 3 / Candleria: Mokotowska 9 |
| Poznań | Szamarzewskiego 10 |
| Wrocław | Włodkowica 19 |
| Łódź | Piotrkowska 6 |
| Katowice | Plac Miarki 2 |
| Kraków | Krowoderska 41 / 1 |
There is also a separate beauty concept, Wonderberry by Mood Scent Bar, at Tamka 34 in Warsaw. Visitors should distinguish it from the perfume shops when choosing where to go. Opening hours and current addresses can be checked in the official store information.
Mood Scent Bar’s story connects collecting perfume with creating places to talk about it. Among fragrances from different creators and regions, people can seek something that touches their memories or the mood of the day. The “Bar” that began in Warsaw has expanded to make room for that conversation.
References
- Kochetov’s studies, perfume work, founding ideas, and selection — Sukces / Rzeczpospolita
- Current brands, products, and opening reports — official Mood Scent Bar website
- Report on Mood Scent Bar’s redesigned Warsaw shop — whiteMAD (January 21, 2023)
- Interview with Victor Kochetov about the scent of Warsaw — Vogue Polska (October 9, 2021)
- Interview with Kochetov — naTemat (January 21, 2014)
- Interview about mood, memory, and choosing perfume — ELLE Polska
- Current Marc-Antoine Barrois selection — official Mood Scent Bar website
- Manifest — official Mood Scent Bar website
- An underwater world on Bracka Street — Architektura & Biznes (January 31, 2023)
- 11. Mood Scent Bar otwarty! — official Mood Scent Bar website
- Current shop addresses — official Mood Scent Bar website
