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

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