Poster: "Welcome to 'Beriozka' shops". USSR: Vneshtorgizdat, 1980s.

Poster: "Welcome to 'Beriozka' shops". USSR: Vneshtorgizdat, 1980s. 58.8 x 41.9 cm. Small tear in the lower part of the poster. The poster is clean. "Beriozka" was a network of specialized retail stores in the USSR that sold food products and consumer goods for foreign currency (to foreigners) or for certificates, later for checks from Vneshposyltorg and Vneshtorgbank (to Soviet overseas workers—diplomatic, military, and technical specialists, particularly specialists from "Zarubezhstroy" and their family members). There was a network of "Beriozka" stores that accepted series "D" checks for serving the diplomatic corps, as well as a network of stores and kiosks in Intourist hotels that accepted foreign currency (selling souvenirs, furs, food, drinks, and cigarettes). Stores of this retail network existed in Moscow, Leningrad, the capitals of the union republics, as well as in large regional centers and some port and resort cities (in Volgograd, Vyborg, Izmail, Nakhodka, Novosibirsk, Novorossiysk, Sevastopol, Sochi, and Yalta). In V. Vysotsky's song "Trip to the City," a naive provincial's visit to a foreign currency store "Berezka" is described: "... Well, what—should I return empty-handed? But then I stumbled upon some goods. — What currency do you have? — they say. — Don't worry, — I say, — not dollars!"