[fuzzfactor]

Gorbachev said that one of the things that shocked and demoralized him was when he visited Houston and took a trip to one of the typical supermarkets, a locally owned one not part of any nationwide chain or anything.

When he saw that average Americans were enjoying consumer choices well beyond anything the highest echelons in the USSR could attain, he was never quite the same after that.

[ido]

I believe you are thinking about Yeltsin (unless both visited a Texas supermarket and were surprised to discover how well stocked it was).

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending...

[throw-the-towel]

Are you sure that was Gorbachev and not Yeltsin? There's even a famous photo of the latter at an American store.