GUM (department Store)

GUM (department Store)

GUM (Russian: ГУМ, pronounced as goom, as abbreviation of the Russian: Главный универсальный магазин Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin, meaning "main universal store") is the name of the main department store in many cities of the former Soviet Union, known as State Department Store (Russian: Государственный универсальный магазин, Gosudarstvennyi Universalnyi Magazin) during the Soviet times. Similarly named stores were found in some Soviet republics and post-Soviet states. The most famous GUM is the large store in the Kitai-gorod part of Moscow facing Red Square. It is currently a shopping mall. Prior to the 1920s the location was known as the Upper Trading Rows (Russian: Верхние торговые ряды). Nearby, also facing Red Square, is a building very similar to GUM, known formerly as the Middle Trading Rows.