Moscow cultural practices in XIX century trade

Research of the Moscow cultural trade practiсes gives a concentrated picture of Russian trade, shows almost the entire range of national and foreign goods, reveals vivid types of entrepreneurs. Moscow was the largest logistics center and consumer of various goods, industrial raw material, and food. The bulk of the regional supplies were textiles, cereals, iron, milk, meat, leather, timber, etc. The Moscow merchants performed the functions of intermediaries in allRussian and foreign trade, linking distant markets. In the second half of the 19th century the traditional land and river trade routes were supplemented by railway roads. The top of the Moscow merchants was formed from the «nonresident» merchants, commoners and peasants who were able to achieve success at the expense of their abilities in the face of intense competition. The types of Moscow merchants are revealed by the example of the Eliseevs, Blandovs, Buryshkins, Filippovs. The study of the localization of urban trade made it possible to find out exactly where foreign goods were stored and sold. National goods entered the Kitay-gorod wholesale warehouses, from where the goods dispersed to the industrial enterprises, Moscow markets and shops. The city’s business and financial life was concentrated in Nikolskaya Street, Ilyinka and Varvarka. The trading opportunities of Moscow was supplemented by the Upper Trading Rows (now GUM), and shop-passages became one of the most popular types of retail space. The article describes the retail space of Moscow – Okhotny Ryad, Sukharevsky market, Smolensky market, Khitrovsky market, Boloto, as well as local markets and fairs. It is shown that in Moscow it was possible to see and to buy practically everything what Russia is rich in. Various types of old-fashioned shopping places and modern European shops coexisted in the urban space. Consideration of the Moscow trade as a holistic cultural phenomenon based on the historical cultural and civilizational approaches made it possible to reveal the main trends and features of the historical period.