GUM

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The acronym GUM stands for Main Department Store (Glavnyi universal'nyi magazin), and indeed, from the time it opened in 1953, GUM was the Soviet Union's largest and busiest retail establishment. Located on the northeast corner of Red Square, GUM occupies the historic premises of Moscow's Upper Trading Rows. This enormous glass-roofed complex, completed in 1893, might be considered an early shopping mall; in the late imperial period, it housed between three hundred and one thousand shops at a time. The Upper Trading Rows were nationalized along with other commercial businesses in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution, and were almost immediately converted into office space for the new Soviet bureaucracy. The New Economic Policy of the 1920s brought a brief revival of trade in the building when the municipal government established a five-and-dime emporium there, but it soon reverted to administrative use.

When the premises were refurbished for retailing during the early 1950s, the emphasis was no longer on discounted sales. GUM became the Soviet capital's most prestigious store, with specialized departments for such luxuries as Central Asian rugs, televisions, crystal stemware, and fur coats. Another department, Section 200, sold luxury wares exclusively to the Soviet elite; entry into this department was by permit only.

In 1992 GUM was reorganized as a joint-stock company. According to a 1991 formula, onequarter of the shares went to the Moscow city government and one-quarter to employees, while the balance was sold to private investors.

—JULIE HESSLER