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Monday, 23.07.2007
Gorbushka – Moscow’s largest electronics market
Take ten usual electronics megastores and you have an idea of the size of the Gorbushka. You can find everything here, absolutely everything that somehow needs electricity to work. CDs, DVDs and software are also for sale.
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To be exact, there are two building corpuses. One of them is called Gorbushka and its neighbour Gorbushkin Dvor. When asked, however, where some exotic device or other can be purchased, any Moscovite answers with one word: Gorbushka.
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| Coordinates |
Gorbushka, Gorbushkin Dvor
Ul. Barklaya, Bagrationovski Proesd 7
Metro: Bagrationowskaya
Opening hours: daily 10am-9pm
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Gorbushka is a typically Russian phenomenon: a trading complex, where countless dealers rent booths in the halls like at a trade fair – each specialised in one article – such as TVs, washing machines or meeasurement devices. The range of goods on offer is enormous. From used mobile phones to batteries, household appliances to measurement technology and CB radio.
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The range of quality is also huge. From a kettle for 10 euros to an exclusive hi-fi system à la Bose&Co. No wish remains unfulfilled. Premium appliances are on offer from firms that are not yet even represented on European markets.
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In the maze of passages, booths and floors, the first-time visitor is more than likely to get lost. But it’s an interesting experience to trace your way through the jungle like a scout. If you’re lucky, you might even find an Apple! The shops are respectable and stock only original goods. Many brands even have their own representation.
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| A mobile phone version produced specially for the Russia market.(photo: Schütt/.rufo) |
The many CD, DVD and software stands on the upper floors should, however, be treated with more caution. Everything you buy there will work, but perhaps not quite as you expect. Or it might simply be illegal.
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A colleague I was shopping there with bought the latest Miami Vice DVD for only 4 euros. The film was good, but the English audio-track apparently only existed in the eyes of the colour copier that had produced the cover.
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Many booths also sell software. Many of the important and very expensive programs and games cost a mere fraction of their price ‘back home’. Russian IT specialists burn just about anything on DVD replete with a correct registration number. But be careful not to get caught with such programs by an authorised dealer in your home country.
Even if you don’t want to buy anything, Gorbushka is well worth a visit. Exit the metro, struggle your way through an open air market and then enter this Aladdin’s cave of electronics.
(khs/.rufo, updated 08/2006)
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