In 1982, a large shopping queue formed outside a clothing store in Wrocław, western Poland. A George Mason University history archive preserves the photograph as evidence of the difficulty consumers faced obtaining necessities including food, clothes and hygiene goods.
What distinguishes this queue is that it did not mark a special product release. Ordered waiting had become part of ordinary shopping. Between possessing ration entitlement and actually obtaining goods stood another condition: the line itself.