The streets of central Moscow, the metro stations, the underpasses are one big bazaar, with the trade particularly brisk in pirated music, film, and computer software. But Gorbushka is the Mecca. And the stall-holders don't miss a trick. Forged barcode labels lend a specious aura of legality. Mock hologram stickers on the CDs look like authentic imprints aimed at thwarting counterfeiters.
Many stalls display bogus street-trading licences.
On any Saturday or Sunday, thousands of people make their way through the warren in the park, contributing substantially to making Russia the biggest market in the world for pirated software and making Gorbushka the biggest emporium of its type in Europe. It is estimated that only one in 10 videos, music CDs, or software discs in any Russian home is not counterfeit. No Russian would dream of paying the full western whack for a CD, even if they could afford to. The authorities occasionally go through the motions of clamping down, usually when western industry raises a hue and cry. The Ukrainian government, for example, last year made a bonfire of pirated discs and tape.