Having spent a lot of time over more years than I would like to remember I have seen a lot of changes in Bulgaria in all sorts of ways so I thought I would start this topic.

I always remember that whenever I went to a hardware shop (the smaller ones) generally I was always offered the Bulgarian and the Russian version of what I was looking for with the Bulgarian one being a better quality and a little more expensive, the question I want to ask is have you ever come across this and what did you choose? The Bulgarian or the Russian and why?

I always bought the Bulgarian version because the Russian version was always a lot more inferior than the Bulgarian although in appearance identical [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I haven't had that privilege yet but I've often found others saying the same I would be interested to hear what others have found good post krypton

Interesting subject I remember when I was looking round for all sorts of hardware in and around Yambol I was always offered a choice of 2 and although I couldn't understand the language I soon realise that Ruski meant Russian and as you say krypton there was a difference in price with the Bulgarian item being a little more expensive your also right in that when I looked at 2 identical items was plain to see that the Bulgarian item was defiantly of better quality this is only my experience and an example of this would be the gas bottle regulators which only cost about 15 Leva but the Russian one is cheaper but is it worth buying something that's Russian to save a few leva and end up with a possible explosion I'm sure others will be able to add to this one way or the other

I suppose you only need to look at the Russian's claim to fame "
The Lada"
which really speaks volumes for their engineering know how I would never buy Russian

Well I am going to disagree with on the Lada have had one now for 14 years same one and have spent about 300lv in total on keeping it on the road. One winter it was a block of ice almost like looking at an ice cube with a car in the middle, took us 4 hours to get into it and it started first time. To me anything that is Bulgaria is cheap and a load of rubbish. We hit a pot hole once in one of the vitos and we could not get the wheel off due it being put on with one of the hydrolic things, it took some poor guy going backwards and forwards to a village about 10 miles away (long story) but we finally got it off with a Russian tool.

We never get asked if we want Russian,we always get told that "
that one is Turkish bukluk"
We always opt for the Turkish, because it is cheaper and lasts longer!! We went into a shop once looking for a fuse for the house,got told that they did not have the one we wanted. When we pointed out that the one next door was ok the reply was "
but that one is Austrian"
. We don,t care if it came from Mars as long as it worked!!

Had to replace an outside tap last week so went to the local hardware shop to get one.

I was given a choice of Bulgarian or Italian ... the guy in the shop told me I'd be better off with the slightly more expensive Italian one as the Bulgarian ones were rubbish!

Why not use Bulgarian. When in Rome and all that.

I've bought lots of Bulgarian stuff some good some not so good

But lets all remember that this place is now (or could be) your home

By buying Bulgarian you are helping with the econony

But it is always your choice. A bit like buying from M&S as compared to say Primark.

Yes Bulgaria is my home, but I for one am so glad that I now have a choice, the shop owner still makes a profit from me whatever I buy. I dont think its this money that makes the country tick you need to look at corruption, money from grants etc non payment of taxes etc etc.

here here

While to some degree I might agree with what Fletch is saying that really isn't the issue in this post all I was asking is "
Bulgarian or the Russian and why? "
so can we get back to the original question