The First Department (Первый отдел, Pervyj Otdel) was in charge of secrecy and political security of the workplace of every enterprise or institution of the Soviet Union that dealt with any kind of technical or scientific information (plants, R&D institutions, etc.) or had printing capabilities (e.g., publishing houses). The first departments reported to KGB and were not subordinated to the management of the enterprise/institution.
Among its functions was control of access to information considered state secret, of foreign travel, and of publications.
In the beginning, some department stores leased space to individual merchants, along the lines of the New change in late 17th-century London, but by 1900 the smaller companies were purchased or replaced by the larger company.
The term "department store" is used somewhat more narrowly in the UK than in the US, generally only being applied to stores with a very wide range of departments situated in city and town centre or indoor shopping centre locations.
The term "department store" is not generally used for chains such as Marks and Spencer with only a few departments; these are termed "retail multiples".
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