The generations that have grown up in the former Yugoslavia during the sixties, seventies, and early eighties, were deprived of some items and products that are now considered as perfectly usual.
Jeans were the object of desire for all teenagers from Yugoslavia, but it was very difficult to get them. They were not sold in stores and department stores, and in order to get them, you should know one of the smugglers or to go to Italy.
The city of Trieste, located on the border between Italy and Slovenia today, was, in fact, the largest department store for the Yugoslav people. There were, besides jeans, thousands of customers purchasing Italian shoes, coffee, kinder eggs, toys, car parts and other.
Trieste was offering an open door to finest achievements of capitalism, which were reflected in the attractive goods that you could not buy in socialism.
People used to travel to Trieste by car, bus or train, and it was common to see a column of vehicles waiting at the border crossing near the Slovenian town of Sezana.
Marketplace “Ponterosso”, something like today’s “Sirano” in Sarajevo, was a paradise for shopaholics back then.
Take a look at the video.
