Milford chronicle., 1961-12-15

Most tobacco products are sold
this way. All these stands are
owned by the state
System at Gums
To make a department store pur-
chase, you must first locate the
counter selling the intended pur-
chase. Join the line, and when
your turn comes, tell the clerk
what you want. The clerk lists the
item and price on form. This
form is then taken to the cashiers
desk, where there is another line.
Presently the cashier takes the
payment and stamps the form. The
form is then taken back to the
original clerk, who delivers the
item.
Gum, the enormous department
store in Moscow, is operated the
same way. Considering the intri-
cacies of the system, there is sur
prisingly little confusion.
! The management puts out a lit
tie information sheet with some
impressive statistics: Nearly
250,000 people daily shop there,
there are 10000 items offered for
sale, the counters are over a mile
| long.
So many MoscOvites and people
from the provinces converge on
Gum pronounced goom) that it
ranks close behind Lenin'S body
as a tourist attraction. They love
to stroll through its glass-roofed
arcades and admire the tinkling
fountains. There are little balloon
les where the visitor can lean on
the railing and study the passing
flow of humanity
Here are some prices noted on
goods actually offered for sale in
various Russian stores:
WOMEN'S CLOTHES: Clio th
coats, some with fur trim, $40 to
1920. Print dresses, $11-$22. We-
mems better dresses, mostly $40
$50. Slips. apparently cotton, $500
$3.50 Shoes, $20-$30-$40. NylOns,
$2.40 unpackaged. Cotton blouse,
SO. Knit mittens, $4 One cocktail
dress in Gum was priced $SS
On the credit side, there are fur
coats at $450-$600 which know
ledgeable Westerner told me could
not be bought for twice the price
in New York. Hats were available
at $2-$5, but very few Russian
women ever wear them.
Most wOmen's clothing on dis
play is scaled for the overly am
pie Russian figure, and it is diff
cult to judge its stylishness. A
Leningrad woman, who has a pro-
nounced Western air, said that
most fashiOn-cOnsciOus women do
their own sewing.
MEMS CLOTHES: Prices al
most unbelievable. A suit of alb
solutely minimum quality. 1925
$3.50 Respectable shoes, $50 Ties, |
$1-$3. Shirts, $17. Overcoats, $50
$200-a presentable one costs at
least $120; a neat gabardine coat |
was priced at $780,
CHILDREN'S CLOTHES: Dresses,
rather attractive, $10-$12. Shoes, |
$12-$20; Boys suits, 500 Every
thing for children is more reason
ably priced in the Soviet Union
The quality is also better).
FOOD: Eggs. $3.50 dozen Lard, !
$110 pound. Cheese, $125 pound !
White Bread, 27 cents for a loaf |
of a little more than a pound
Black Bread, Z cents for the same |
loaf. Small can Of evaporated milk |
so cents. Chicken, $125 pound,
pork, $1-$1.50 pound, beef, 90 cents
pound.
All of the meat is extremely fat !
Russians seem to like it that way. |
AUTOMOBILES: Mos cow C h,
very small, $4,000 Volga, a sturdy
car which looks like a slightly
scaled-down 1854 Ford, $4,400. No |
one could tell me the prices on |
big cars such as the Buick-like
Zim. There is a new car of modern
design called the Sea-Gull, price
also not available. Gasoline, about
80 cents a gallon.
BOOKS: Very reasonable. Ele-
gantly printed art books of the
quality sold in this country for
$15-$2O, are SO or $4 Handsome
copies of Dickens in English are
featured in Moscow stores for
S1.10.
RECORDS: Breakable 12-i n h
long play, about 81. Unbreakable
rare, but priced about $3.50 Great
variety available Quality is vari-
able. 7S rpm records are still pop
ular.
-oOO-