During the Soviet era, the new upper trading ranks had an eventful history: in 1921 they were given their current name GUM (at that time this was the abbreviation for Gossudarstwenny Uniwersalny Magasin - "State Department Store", today it stands for Glawny Uniwersalny Magasin - " Main Department Store ") in the early 1930s, they were closed for two decades and served as office and residential buildings, and from the end of 1953 until the collapse of the Soviet state, the GUM was considered a kind of model department store in the middle of the real socialist shortage economy. In the 1990s, the GUM was privatized and thoroughly renovated and today it presents itself to the locals and tourists as a noble shopping center characterized by boutiques in the upper price ranges.