Dushanbe I

On the outskirts of Dushanbe stands a huge cement factory. All the walls have been painted with propaganda staff.

This is a cheap and good place to eat. It's called "Soviet bistro" and is decorated with Soviet memorabilia.

In Dushanbe some sort of wedding dress cult has spread all over the city.

A wedding dress can be found even outside the main department store...

..and inside it.

The store hasn't changed that much for the past 30 years.

And this place is called "salesman's corner" and has a quote of Maxim Gorky - "just in the work and only in the work a man's great".

The main park in the centre and the president's palace in the middle.

The alternative to begging is to make business with offering people to weight them. Very popular all over ex-USSR.

And people also make money by working as telephone attendands.

Another optimistic propaganda poster of the president.

The main post office.

Events list of the local opera. Look at the hours when the plays take place - it's only mornings. Opera in Dushanbe is for kids only.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

RAR shop

This is an old shop of RAR (Rīgas autoelektroaparātu rūpnīca) - Riga autoelectromachinery factory on Klusā iela in Riga. Today the company still somehow exists, perhaps cos it belongs to Russians and works mainly for Russia, so it might be the reason why they don't need a local shop anymore.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Sweetshop Daile

Probably the oldest sweetshop in Riga has not survived the economical crisis and has been shut down for a few weeks already. The sweetshop Daile on Blaumana street was selling cakes and cookies since 1930s. The owners still have a hope of relaunching the business in the future.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Central market

Riga Central market is a popular tourist sight. However, soon the market will experience renovation and might lose its exotic and vintage character. Some of the stalls have been already demolished, more destruction and renovation to follow in the next months. Most photos represented here are from the manufactured goods market - one of the most bizarre areas in the Central market.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Old shops in Latgale

I already posted photos of some shops in Latgale region of East Latvia. Here goes a few more. Usually they are called just "shops" (veikals) and not by some name because in most cases they don't need one as there is no competition - there is no other shop nearby. Also, most of them who haven't changed the place just kept the old time sign "veikals" for ages.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Old shop in Livani

This is a grocery store in Livani, Latvia with an old time sign "Pārtika" on the top of it.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Shop Nr.1 in Demene

Abandoned shop in Demene, a place south of Daugavpils in Latvia.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Rauna

A couple of old shop signs in Rauna, a small place between Cēsis and Valmiera.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Jaunrauna

I have no doubt that this shop sign Jaunrauna stands there since Soviet times. Jaunrauna is a small place near Cēsis.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Daina

This is quite rare - a shop in Priedaine, a place near Riga, has kept its name - Daina - and even the shabby sign of it from Soviet times.
Photo by (c) Arnis Balcus

Nelda

Yesterday was the last working day of Nelda supermarket in Ziepniekkalns, Riga, today it's closed for good and in a couple of months a new supermarket by another branch Iki will take its place. In the last days the shop was quite empty, reminding the food shortages of the early 1990s.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus

Boska

Boska used to be and probably still is the biggest shopping centre in Banja Luka, the capital of the republic of Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is probably the most empty one as well. The shopping centre still belongs to the state and recently failed privatisation, thus the stock has not been refilled for a long time, while the staff cannot be fired for some reason. It is quite surreal to walk through the centre, seeing empty shelves and bored saleswomen smoking inside.
Photos by (c) Arnis Balcus