About the book: 2018 / Transactions with foreign currency were considered a criminal offense in the USSR, the cult of Western goods among Soviet citizens was a constant object of criticism in the newspapers, and the existence of privileged supplies was officially denied. Nevertheless, state-owned Berezka stores, in which certain groups of Soviet citizens could buy scarce imported goods for foreign currency and its substitutes (certificates and checks), operated successfully throughout the Soviet Union. Moreover, they became an important part of late Soviet everyday life. American jeans, Japanese tape recorders and Italian boots were bought at Berezki not only by diplomats or artists on tour, but also by Soviet workers who provided “technical assistance” in third world countries, dissidents, those who received currency transfers from abroad, as well as ordinary Soviet citizens who dared to buy currency substitutes on the black market for rubles. Berezka stores were perceived in Soviet society as both a standard of consumption and an example of social injustice. In Anna Ivanova’s book, retail currency trading in the late USSR becomes the object of historical research for the first time. The author examines the reasons for the appearance of Berezka stores, describes the categories of Soviet citizens who had access to “closed” currency stores, and the image of currency trading in official discourse and among consumers. The book is based on documents from central and republican archives, materials from the Soviet press, memoirs and personal interviews with both employees and users of the foreign exchange trading system.