Comturist was the name of the hard currency luxury shops that existed in Communist Romania, managed by the Ministry of Tourism.
[1] After the 1989 Romanian revolution, these stores became obsolete and were sold off in 1991 to private business owners; as a result of this sale by auction, the Comturist name is still in existence today in a more limited capacity as a chain of duty-free stores.
[2] About 200 Comturist stores were in existence in Romania by 1977, mainly in the largest cities and tourist areas.
[3] The Comturist stores existed explicitly to offer items that were not allowed to be sold in the then mainstream Romanian socialist economy.
[1] Imports from western Europe, North America, and Japan were sold in these shops, such as alcohol, tobacco, perfume, shoes, clothing, radios, televisions, calculators, and by the 1980s, personal computers.