From Russia with love - and a dash of capitalism.

It seems as if Mark Foks never really left Russia.

Since moving from Leningrad to Los Angeles three years ago, Foks spends most of his days in America pacing his 2,000-square-foot store surrounded by reminders of his homeland.

As sole clerk and owner of "Russian Connections," the 36-year-old Foks is consumed with buying, arranging and selling costly Russian collectors' items and more affordable folk crafts.

Formerly a metalworker, Foks says the idea for a Russian store came to him several months after arriving in Los Angeles with little English language ability and even less money.

"I think, here in America, they don't have a big store about Russian life. It's some mistake. Chinese store is working, English store is working," says Foks, who looks more like a professor than a metal-worker with his mustache, beard and conservative sweater.

"I think, don't open a small store. Russia is a big country, we need a big store," Foks says.

Foks calls his shop, situated near the corner of Melrose and Fairfax, "The Biggest Russian Gift & Souvenir Store in America."

"I wanted to give a chance to say, 'Take a look at what is Russia,'" says Foks.

With its large sign and bright red colors, the store has been a local eye catcher since it opened May 1, 1990. Foks' wares include musical instruments like the three-string balalaika, and wooden spoons, bowls and cups with hand-painted swirls of gold, black, orange and green.

He carries a selection of Russian music, ranging from hard-core punk to gypsy and religious albums. One two-story wall is covered top to bottom with Soviet propaganda posters. Another area is devoted to wooden dolls ranging in price from $3 to $400 and in depictions from former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to blond girls in red kerchiefs.

One corner shows off military memorabilia, with medals, uniforms and bristling KGB fur hats. The store also offers collectibles and big-ticket items such as Russian icons, some from the 15th century, and black lacquer boxes depicting snowy sleigh rides and scenes from Russian fairy tales, ranging in price from $40 to $1,000. Foks also sells delicate Lomonosov porcelain.

Foks runs the store single-handedly, working from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days a week. He orders deliveries of Chinese food during lunch so he doesn't have to leave the store.

He says he has about five regular buyers in the former Soviet Union who send him boxes of goods when he is short an item. Sometimes he pays them upfront, and other times he send them a check after he receives the goods.

In addition, some people just drop by the store and ask Foks how much he will pay for their items, sometimes collectibles or recently purchased goods from Russia.

"I need about 100 pieces a month and they provide me. It's a unique situation. I don't spend a lot of money on stock; it's more like an antique store," he says.

Thirty-three-year-old computer programmer Nikita Mergelian recently brought Foks some Russian flags, and Foks wrote him a check. Originally from Moscow, Mergelian has lived in Los Angeles six years.

Standing in the store with his 19-year-old blond wife, Helen, Mergelian says he brought Foks some flags two years ago, so when he was in Moscow last month, he picked up more goods for Russian Connections.

"This store is an L.A. landmark," says Mergelian.

Foks says the amount of stock on hand in the store has increased significantly since its start-up, forcing him to buy new shelves to hold all the goods. However, the uncertain economic and political climate in the former Soviet Union makes it sometimes difficult to set prices.

"Right now, when the Soviet border is open, we can get things easier. But every month in the (former) Soviet Union, the price goes up. It's a problem. We can't increase prices every month -- we have to put things on sale," says Foks. "My profit is smaller and smaller."

Foks says he made a profit in 1992, but it has not been easy. He says Christmas sales were "OK," but he is concerned about January and February. For Foks, planning is especially difficult. Not only must he be concerned about the Russian economy, but the American one as well.

"I am like everyone else in America, sitting at home watching the News at 10, trying to figure it all out," he says.

Foks, who drives a 1983 Toyota Corolla, says everything he owns is invested in "Russian Connections."

"You come to my apartment and you see nothing. Everything I have is in this store," he says.

It has not been an easy journey for Foks, or his wife, Galina, and 12-year-old son, Leon, but he claims luck has been on his side.

Galina, who was a hairdresser in Russia, is now a pet groomer. She is pregnant with their second child.

Foks says Leon, now in the 7th grade, speaks English like an American boy. But his dad says Leon has become maybe "too American." Foks says his son is concerned primarily with fun and finds it hard to concentrate on his studies.

A metal worker in Leningrad, Foks and his wife, who are both Jewish, became increasingly concerned about anti-Semitism in Russia.

"We must fret about life there. Politics and government can change, but anti-Semitism will always be in Russia," he says.

Foks says when the family arrived in Los Angeles on December 18, 1989 after living in Italy for nine months, neither he nor his wife spoke English.

Foks says the family stayed with relatives, received $4,000 from a local Jewish organization, and did not accept welfare.

He says the idea for the gift store came to him after he got a part-time job working in a framing shop on Sunset Boulevard for less than $500 a month.

He found a partner to put up the $70,000 start-up capital, but the partner left the store for Seattle after a discouraging trip to Russia.

"He come back like crazy, saying, 'Policy can change every day, what we will do with supply?' I said, 'Oh, take a chance, it's America, don't look so far in the future.'"

Foks says he was able to get loans to buy out his partner and is now the sole owner of Russian Connections. He says monthly rent was $4,700, but the landlord has reduced it twice during the past two years due to the economic climate.

"We wanted a big corner in this visual building. This corner is advertising for us. Red color, big sign, this is working," he says.

The store is known by many in Los Angeles because of its locale and large neon sign proclaiming, "From Russia With Love."

"Sometimes people call me when they are looking for something Russian and I always recommend that store," says Gregory Wain, president of the Russian American Cultural & Trade Association, in Van Nuys. "It's a little piece of Russia," says Gregory, who estimates the Russian community in Los Angeles at about 100,000.