We visited Bratislava several times during our time in Vienna between 1993/94 when we had friends to stay. During these trips, as well as exploring the cultural opportunities the city had to offer, we would also visit the local grocery stores and once or twice, the big supermarket (at that time Walmart) before travelling back, to stock up on luxury(sic) items (coffee, beer, pickles etc). We were quite hard up at the time and the difference in prices of the items we bought and brought back (was it smuggling? I really don't know) would offset the price of the tickets. For our guests, Bratislava offered a different cultural experience to that of Vienna which I think they all found at least interesting, if nothing else. We also reckoned that in our own small way, that we were supporting the local economy too. So everything was ok!
Now while this isn't intended as a big political statement about local produce, supply and demand, or global consumption, it was interesting to note that the goods we used to buy in 1993 at a saving to equivalent goods in local Austrian supermarkets, were now actually more expensive than than they are in Vienna and at home in the UK! While I imagine that in the meantime, the Slovak economy has generally raised the standard of living for its inhabitants, I doubt it has boomed to the extent where they can afford to pay more for their shopping than we do in the Austria or the UK for that matter.
Surely this makes the "luxury goods" even more unobtainable for the local inhabitants than they were previoulsy, or at the very least, is a great big rip-off.
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