The museum building has been restored on the site of a trading shop that was part of a large estate complex of Simbirsk merchants of the second guild, known patrons Kuzma Yakovlevich and Lyubov Grigoryevna Zharkov.

In the documentary exhibition halls, visitors can learn about the history of Simbirsk as a trading city, gain a wealth of interesting information about the origins and development of the merchant class, as well as about the everyday life, customs, and traditions of the merchants.

Museum guests will see unique photographs and documents that tell about the contribution of the merchants to the establishment of a profitable wool production in the province, about the Simbirsk fairs, about river and store trading, and the development of banking and stock exchange activities. They will also learn about the role of merchants in organizing urban and local self-government, how they lived, how they dressed, what trading shops and merchant houses looked like, and what traditions were upheld in their families.