Beryozka

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Vneshposyltorg checks were used for paying in Beryozka stores

Beryozka (Russian: Берёзка, lit. "little birch tree") was a twin chain of state-run retail stores in the Russian SFSR that sold goods for hard currency to foreign citizens. Beryozkas sold goods that were either unavailable or more expensive in regular shops. One chain that belong to VneshPosylTorg (literally Foreign Postage Trade) was intended for the Soviet citizens having some income in hard currencies. They were forced to sell their currency for the so called Checks of Vneshposyltorg nominated in roubles. The checks were to be used to purchase goods in the VneshPosylTorg Beryozkas.

The other chain sold goods directly for the foreign currency and for the so called Checks of series D by Vneshtorgbank. Soviet citizens (except the high range officials) were not allowed to enter these stores as they legally they were forbidden to be in possession of the hard currency on the territory of the Soviet Union.

The hard currency stores were named Beryozka only on the territory of the RSFSR. Other republics of the Soviet Union had similar stores usually named after their "national trees." For example, hard currency stores were named Kashtan (Chestnut) in the Ukrainian SSR, Chinara (Sycamore) in the Azerbaijan SSR, etc.

There were also separate Albatross stores in the Soviet port cities that sold goods to Soviet sailors returning from abroad. The Albatross stores sold goods for TorgMorTrans checks issued by the Department for the Marine Fleet of the Soviet Union in exchange for foreign currency earned by the sailors.

Beryozka stores were opened in 1964. Their predecessors were Torgsin stores on 1930s and the highly ineffective VneshPosylTorg departments of the large Soviet department stores (e.g. State Universal Store) that allowed catalog mail orders from abroad by customers paying with hard currency.

Beryozka stores became obsolete in the earlier 1990s when conversion of rubles into hard currency was allowed. The stores were privatized and in the mid-1990s most were closed as uncompetitive.

Many other countries had similar institutions, such as Intershops in the German Democratic Republic or Friendship Stores in the People's Republic of China, though some of these systems allowed anyone with hard currency to shop there.