Selling to the Masses: Retailing in Russia, 1880–1930 by Marjorie L. Hilton (review)

Retailing in late imperial and early Soviet Russia exhibited modern consumerism traits, including state-retail cooperation, mass merchandising, and rationalized buying/selling practices. Marjorie L. Hilton's analysis challenges the notion that Russian retailing was inherently backward, demonstrating its integration of nationalism, Orthodox religion, and modernity. The study focuses on the Upper Trading Rows (later GUM) in Moscow as a case example, revealing how retail spaces were designed to symbolize urban life while blending past, present, and future. Hilton's work also highlights continuity between late imperial and early Soviet eras, contrasting with assumptions of abrupt change post-1905 or under Stalinism.

(Ed.). (2014). Selling to the Masses: Retailing in Russia, 1880–1930 by Marjorie L. Hilton (review). Ab Imperio, 2014(3), 437–440. https://doi.org/10.1353/imp.2014.0089