itallux.r52.ru was the website of the Nizhny Novgorod shopping center "Itallux," which belonged to OOO "Torgovo-marketingovyi tsentr N. Novgorod" (Trade and Marketing Center N. Novgorod LLC). The center and its stores operated on Ploshchad Svobody (Freedom Square) in Nizhny Novgorod[2]. The site received its third-level address in the Nizhny Novgorod domain zone r52.ru from the R52 portal[1]; the copyright notice on the pages was dated 2000[2], and the home page snapshots preserved in the web archive span the period from February 2001 to January 2002[1][3].

Placeholder and launch

The earliest surviving snapshot, taken on February 14, 2001, caught the site not yet launched. In place of the home page stood the portal's placeholder: the heading "R52 — work in progress" and, as the home page reported, the line "The site is under construction!!!:)))" with a link "Return to the R52 portal"[1]. Such a placeholder is evidence that the address had been allocated before any content appeared on it, with the portal itself providing the hosting and design of the technical page[1].

By December 2001 the site was operational. The browser window title was styled in the manner of the time — "-*- Itallux | about the company -*-" — and the only substantive section of the home page was called "About the Company"[2]. At the bottom of the page was the developer's credit: "Web-design by Teamoty Brane Inc."[2].

What the center offered

The text addressed to visitors was written in a formal tone: "OOO 'Torgovo-marketingovyi tsentr N. Novgorod' welcomes you to the 'Itallux' center and to the 'Glenfield' and 'Sash' stores on Ploshchad Svobody," the home page announced[2]. The center's stated purpose was "presenting on the Nizhny Novgorod market high-quality products from Italian manufacturers of footwear, clothing, outerwear knitwear, leather goods, and stylish clothing for young people"[2]. The center's retail space offered goods from the brands "Pancaldi," "Furla," "Glenfield," and "Sash"[2].

A separate line on the home page announced seasonal discounts, and the snapshots show how their scale changed: in December 2001 the page promised discounts of 30-70%[2], and in January 2002, 30-50%[3]. Apart from this figure, the home page text did not change by a single word between the two snapshots[2][3].

The site was not a store but a calling card: it explained where the center was located and what was sold there, and promised that staff would "provide qualified assistance in selecting an outfit and stylish accessories," suggest a gift, and advise on the care of purchased items[2]. The surviving pages contain no prices, no product catalog, and no order form; nor do they list a phone number, postal code, or email address — the only geographic reference the site gave was Ploshchad Svobody[2][3]. No visitor counters are visible in the preserved page text either[3].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

"Itallux" belonged to the most numerous layer of the early Nizhny Novgorod Internet — corporate calling-card pages that local firms set up on city portals without bothering with a second-level domain of their own or regular updates. The site entered our census from the nn.ru catalog directory, where it was listed as 'OOO "ItalLuks"' with the description "High-quality goods from Italian manufacturers"; it does not appear in the surviving samples of the Counter.nn.ru counter (see the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating). The site does not appear in the final vote tally of the 2004 Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day[4] — by that time it had already gone two years without an update.

How it closed

The last home page snapshot in the web archive is dated January 26, 2002[3]. Our web archive sample lists six captures at this address, of which three carry substantive text: the portal placeholder and two nearly identical versions of the "About the Company" page. No snapshot says anything about why the site stopped being updated; according to our census, the address itallux.r52.ru no longer responds. All that survives of the entire site is a single screen of text — the address to customers, four brand names, and a seasonal discount figure.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, February 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, December 2001 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote results, 2004 (archive)