vm.r52.ru was the website of a Nizhny Novgorod warehouse store called «Gruzovik-Avtobus» (Truck-Bus), which sold spare parts for PAZ buses and GAZ vehicles. The store was located at 603093, Nizhny Novgorod, Delovaya Street, 4; the home page listed the store's phone number (8312) 32-57-02 and the director's phone number (8312) 34-94-70[1]. The site occupied a third-level address in the Nizhny Novgorod zone r52.ru; the earliest surviving snapshot of the home page is dated 31 October 2001[1], and the latest is dated 17 September 2011[4].

What the store sold

The business described itself as a parts supplier working directly with factories. As the home page stated, «direct deliveries from manufacturing plants and our own unit-and-assembly repair service» made it possible to keep low prices on products of OAO «GAZ» and OAO «Pavlovsky Avtobus» (Pavlovo Bus Plant) and to «promptly provide qualified assistance in resolving issues with the operability of passenger road transport»[1]. According to the site, body parts, powertrain and transmission components for PAZ buses were constantly in stock[1].

The terms of business were listed: cash and non-cash payment, order assembly, shipment by rail container to the regions, a flexible discount system, provision of certificates, deferred payment for regular customers, and specialist consultations[2]. The intended audience was not private owners but organizations: the site invited cooperation from «passenger transport enterprises and entrepreneurs working in passenger transport who have PAZ buses in their fleet», as well as shops and wholesalers[2]. At the bottom of the 2001 page was the line «10 years of successful work in the Russian spare parts market»[1].

How the site was built

According to the surviving snapshots, the site was a single-page business-card layout: the heading «Warehouse store "Gruzovik-Avtobus" | Home page», below it the address, two phone numbers and the email bus@kis.ru, then a description of the supplies and a list of terms, ending with an invitation to write by email[1]. No separate sections, a price catalog, or an order form are visible in the snapshots.

At the bottom of the 2001 page, the developer and hosting platform were credited: «Kodirovanie Info-online» and «Hosting r52.ru»[1]. In the 2003 and 2004 snapshots this line is already absent, while the page text itself matches the 2001 version word for word[2][3]. No visitor counters have survived in the snapshot texts.

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The site made it into our inventory of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet from the nn.ru catalog, where it was listed under a category described as «wholesale and retail trade in spare parts for PAZ buses and GAZ trucks, unit-and-assembly repair»; the selection methodology is described in the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating. It does not appear in the surviving samples of the Counter.nn.ru counter; its rankings and visit counts are not recorded in our data. In the published results table of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote for 2004, neither the address vm.r52.ru nor the name «Gruzovik-Avtobus» appears[5].

This is a typical example of the Nizhny Novgorod corporate web of the early 2000s: a business-card page at a leased third-level address, made once and living unchanged for years, whose purpose was not to gather an audience but to be found by name and provide a phone number.

The 2011 update and closure

The only notable redesign of the page is recorded in the snapshot from 17 September 2011: a new block appeared at the top with the heading «How to make a good spare parts store?» and an offer to help a partner plan their assortment — «If you want to open a PAZ spare parts store, we will help you plan your assortment, and we will work together on its expansion and replenishment», as the home page put it[4]. New contacts for inquiries were also listed there: phone numbers (8312) 78-91-14 and 32-57-02, and the address vm@r52.ru[4]. The earlier text about direct deliveries and unit-and-assembly repair, the address on Delovaya, 4, and the email bus@kis.ru were retained[4].

There are no further home page snapshots in our sample: the last one is dated 17 September 2011[4]. By the time this entry was compiled, the address vm.r52.ru no longer responded. What became of the warehouse store itself on Delovaya Street is not reported in the available archival materials.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2003 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2004 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2011 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Results of the Day of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet vote, 2004 (archive)