These were street markets, where people were selling things such as food, clothes, basically everything. My father, who was the guy who provided these things for the vendors (for quick money) was doing it by going across the border to Poland and even Germany to get worthy merchandise. He was doing it with another pal he knew who later made his own company which now makes god knows how much money. The funny part is that you had no problems crossing the border with a bunch of unacceptable and illegal things, as bribing the police and the border guards was easy, sometimes too easy. These guys were starving, too. Mind you, my father had two degrees under his belt, but there was no use for it as the economy was so shit with full of corruption. It was sad. When I was born, the stores's shelves were empty, the money currency was changing all the time so you had to change it into dollars (not kidding) to buy something, there was no a way around it. The western world praises Gorbachev as being the guy who prevented a war and what not, but little do they know he fucked his own country and people so bad that starvation and gang violence was at its peak until the regime finally collapsed under his rule.