The Apple store inside TsUM Moscow in 2016. According to Dan Richardson’s The Rough Guide to Moscow (2009), after nationalisation what had once been Moscow’s most prestigious and beloved department store became a downmarket version of the ubiquitous GUM state-owned chain. Since the return of free markets in the 1990s, TsUM has rediscovered the cachet it enjoyed under its Scottish founders, and is now distinctly ‘high-end’ once again.
IF you could not get to the store, Muir and Mirrielees would mail you a catalogue, or swatches of cloth; they delivered anywhere within the Russian Empire, for free on orders over twenty-five rubles, and as in the best English establishments customers were reassured with money-back guarantees. In 1899, footfall was already ten thousand a day, and they posted out some sixty thousand catalogues yearly. By 1914, the store had forty-three departments and a restaurant, and employed over a thousand people. Russians held it in great affection: playwright Anton Chekhov, who bought his hats and writing paper there, named twin puppies on his farm Muir and Mirrielees.
Following the unhappy revolution of 1917, the company’s assets were confiscated and Frederick and Lucy Cazalet, who now managed the store, fled to England.* Nevertheless Muir and Mirrielees survives to this day in Roman Klein’s historic building on Theatre Square, though renamed with drab Communist pragmatism TsUM, which stands for Central Department Store.
With acknowledgements to ‘Russia’s Greatest Scots’ at Russia Beyond, British Museum: Collection Online: Apron, Inverclyde’s Heritage: The Russian Connection, Discover Moscow: The Muir & Merrilees Store and Page Name by Marjorie L. Hilton.
Frederick Cazalet (1871-1945) married Lucy Hopper (1870-1956) in the Anglican Church in Moscow in 1901. Both were born in Moscow. Lucy, who was something of an authority on Russian pewter and porcelain, wrote a short history of Russia for English readers; for extracts, see posts tagged Lucy Cazalet (4).
Related Video
This short film (7½ mins) was shot in Moscow
in 1908, the year the new Muir and Mirrielees building was opened. The
flagship store can be seen from about 2m46s, with horse-drawn sleds
swishing busily through a snowy Petrovka Street.
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Précis
By the turn of the twentieth century, the Moscow store was welcoming ten thousand customers daily, and many more took advantage of its mail order catalogues. The revolution of 1917 saw Muir and Mirrielees nationalised and renamed, but the shop and its iconic building survived and since the fall of Communism it has regained its up-market reputation. (57 / 60 words)
By the turn of the twentieth century, the Moscow store was welcoming ten thousand customers daily, and many more took advantage of its mail order catalogues. The revolution of 1917 saw Muir and Mirrielees nationalised and renamed, but the shop and its iconic building survived and since the fall of Communism it has regained its up-market reputation.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, otherwise, ought, unless, until, whereas, whether, who.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Boast. Deliver. Growth.
2 Follow. Sell. Serious.
3 Answer. Great. Playwright.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
tbs (5+1)
taboos. tabs. tubas. tubes. tubs.
tibias.
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