Industry WIKI

Beryozka, or Beriozka, (Russian: Берёзка, lit. "little birch") was the common name of two chains of state-run retail stores in the Soviet Union that sold goods in exchange for foreign currency. Beriozkas sold luxury goods such as chocolate and caviar that were often unavailable or unaffordable in traditional Soviet markets and shops. Beryozka stores existed between 1964 and 1990, up to

Intershop was a chain of government-owned and operated retail stores in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) from 1962 until 1990 in which only hard currencies (and later Forum checks) could be used to purchase high-quality goods, usually from or associated with Western countries. The East German mark was not accepted as payment. Intershop was originally oriented towards vi

Pewex (Polish pronunciation: [ˈpɛvɛks]; short for Przedsiębiorstwo Eksportu Wewnętrznego, lit. 'Internal Export Company') was a chain of hard-currency shops founded in 1972, during the Communist era in Poland that accepted payment only in the United States dollar and other hard currencies, instead of the country's indigenous currency, the złoty.

Torgsin (Russian: Торгсин) were state-run hard-currency shops that operated in the USSR between 1931 and 1936. Their name was an acronym of the phrase torgovlia s inostrantsami (Russian: торговля с иностранцами), "trade with foreigners". Unlike the later Beryozka stores, Torgsin stores were open to all Soviet citizens, provided they paid with hard currency, gold, or jewels. Initially, To

Tuzex was a series of state-run shops in Czechoslovakia from 1957 to 1992 which did not accept normal Czechoslovak koruna currency but only vouchers (bony) which could be purchased from banks using foreign currency. They supplied luxury items: local goods in short supply and in particular foreign goods. The Tuzex vouchers were effectively an unofficial parallel currency.