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Estee Lauder Opens Moscow Boutique

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From Reuters

Hundreds of Soviet women jammed a newly opened boutique on Moscow’s busiest shopping street today and began shelling out up to half a month’s salary in unfashionable rubles for trendy Western cosmetics and perfumes.

A beaming Nanuli Shevardnadze, whose husband, Eduard, is foreign minister, told reporters at the champagne ceremony launching the Estee Lauder shop: “This is a very happy day for Soviet women.”

Lidiya Zaikov, wife of Moscow’s Communist Party chief, nodded enthusiastically as Estee Lauder told her: “All the prices here are the same as in New York.”

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Following the formal opening, hundreds of Soviet women flocked in from Gorky Street to plunk down as much as half a month’s wages for a bottle of the latest fragrance from the house of Estee Lauder.

Police set up barriers and closed a subway entrance to keep back crowds, mainly heavily made-up young women waiting patiently for their turn to enter Moscow’s first shop selling a wide range of Western cosmetics for Soviet rubles.

“It’s high time someone opened a shop like this,” said Anastasia Nechayeva, 19, a research assistant. “At these prices I couldn’t come every week, but it is certainly a lot better than having to look around for cosmetics through friends and acquaintances.”

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Assistants were overwhelmed at counters selling small bottles of perfume for 80 to 120 rubles.

Young women at counters selling conventional Soviet beauty products at one-fifth of the price stood idle.

Asked if she planned to use the store’s products, Nanuli Shevardnadze retorted: “I’ve used them for four years since I first went to New York.”

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