Domestic Trade Network

The Soviet Union provided its population with most consumer goods through the state-owned network of retail establishments, the state-dominated cooperatives, and farmers' markets. In addition, the state managed the public catering services through its food services (buffets, restaurants, coffee houses, snack bars, and such) and non-food services (clothing stores, printed matter stores, technical stores, and so on). Employment in the state and cooperative domestic trade increased between 1940 and 1987 from 2,246 to 7,977: yet during this period, the relative share of employment in trade remained roughly the same, namely around 6.7 percent of the total labor force. In addition, this trade workforce was managed by an enormous apparatus of ministerial directors and bureaucrats numbering by January 1, 1988, 5,995 persons (dominating the 7,977 employees directly involved in trade).

The bulk of the retail trade was carried out through the state and the cooperative stores: From 1940 to 1987, the share of the state stores in the total retail sales consistently increased from 63 percent to 71 percent and that of the cooperatives from 23 to 26 percent. The relative share of the collective farms' market – numbering some six thousand outlets – dropped from 14.3 percent to 2.7 percent. (However, with regard to foodstuffs only, the farms' market share dropped from 19.7 percent to 5.3 percent.)

Both the state and the cooperative stores were small and poorly equipped.