Preferred supermarket

MattKid

Best of a bad lot I know in Galway but which do you favour?

cornbb

Tesco is the best of a bad bunch.

If I feel like throwing money around then M&S or Joyce's in Knocknacarra. I hate Dunnes with a passion.

majiktripp

Worst Supermarket in Galway is by far and away without doubt and exception..
Supervalue on Fr. Griffin Road.
Worst.....Store....Ever.
Urge to kill rising even thinking about the place..

biko

I don't have a favourite per se but usually go to Tesco, Joyces or Father Griffin Supervalue.

Fionn MacCool

Was meaning to ask, is Tesco cheaper than Dunnes?

I've usually go to Tesco for most stuff, and then next door (Headford rd) to Lidl to pick up one or two things (they're frozen pizzas are class).

MattKid

I'm not bothered about price, I place variety quality and enjoyable shopping experience much higher on my list

padraig71

Lidl is good (though I wish they had an express lane plus a change machine so you don't have to queue or queue-jump to get a euro for a trolley), but I use Dunnes in Eyre Square most because it's nearest to me. Tesco and Dunnes on Headford Road are not very handy if you don't have a car.

If you buy seasonal food and whatever is reduced on any given day, Dunnes can be cheap enough, but as with any supermarkets in Galway, always check your receipt because they make lots of errors. Also, always queue at the tills near the exit because this is where you have to go if there is a mistake and it will save you queuing twice or getting the evil eye from other shoppers when you go to complain. (If you convince the staff that they have charged you more than the price that was marked, you will usually get the product in question for nothing.)

Another cheapskate tip: if you see something non-perishable on a special offer, buy loads of it. e.g. two for one deals on muesli, chocolate, wine, fruit juice cartons…

I recently wrote to Dunnes' director of food to complain about the removal of St Bernard plain yogurt, and he wrote back thanking me and sending €20 of vouchers, so it pays to complain. (Then again, that was over a month ago and the yogurt hasn't come back yet.)

cornbb

majiktripp wrote: »

Worst Supermarket in Galway is by far and away without doubt and exception..
Supervalue on Fr. Griffin Road.
Worst.....Store....Ever.
Urge to kill rising even thinking about the place..

I totally agree, even though its the closest "supermarket" to me. They raised the price of 5L bottled water the first week of the cryptosporidium crisis. Scum!

LadyMayBelle

Tesco. By far. And Marks and Sparks for nice treat-like bits...yum..

Krieg

Lidl for soft drinks, chips, and a few other small bits
Dunnes stores for everything else

Toto Wolfcastle

When I moved to Galway I just presumed I'd be going to Tesco because I shop there when I'm home. I've no car though and Tesco is a good distance away. I shop in Dunnes in Westside because it's about a 3 minute walk from me, and I hate it. It always seems so cluttered and they never have what I want! And if they do, some of the staff don't know where it is. (Which resulted in me getting cheap ice cream last week! So I wont complain!)

Has anyone been to Dunnes in Knocknacarra? What's it like?

Tesco online shopping have free delivery every few weeks so I usually get a big shop with them when they do.

I go to Marks for pizzas and things like that, but they haven't got a huge selection because the shop is so small. (Compared to Cork.) Nice staff though.

sgthighway

Dunnes for the everyday shopping. Use to use Terryland but now Briar Hill. I hate Nestors with a passion. Shelves are never stocked and I think they are expensive. Divilleys in Westside for the Meat but they are a shower of bastrads too; Always have too much nice stuff to pick from. Hmmmmm.
Joyces always have nice Vegtables but I'd be weary about about buying some of the Food Special Offers up there.
Does any body remember Kumarket???

leninbenjamin

janeybabe26 wrote:

Has anyone been to Dunnes in Knocknacarra? What's it like?

s'alright. it's big, it's bizarrely complicated to navigate. i've only used it for beer tbh, but it's just another Dunnes...

sgthighway wrote: »

Joyces always have nice Vegtables but I'd be weary about about buying some of the Food Special Offers up there.

jaysus anytime i've been in there the fruit and veg has been ****e. it's pretty much everyone's big complaint about the place. that and the fact it has little to no speciality items...

and it's ok for beer though. not a great selection but prices aren't bad.

Toto Wolfcastle

leninbenjamin wrote: »

s'alright. it's big, it's bizarrely complicated to navigate. i've only used it for beer tbh, but it's just another Dunnes...

And why exactly did Galway need another Dunnes?

leninbenjamin

janeybabe26 wrote: »

And why exactly did Galway need another Dunnes?

because they wanted to cement their monopoly position further. margin's are pretty low in supermarkets so it's how most of the big chains operate. get rid of the competition and make your profits through sheer control of the market.

besides if a Superquinn or another Tesco went in there as everyone wanted Dunnes Westside would have closed, possibly within two years definitely within 5. anyone with a car would have driven up the road to them, so that would leave the students only to buy from 'em, and we don't make for great principal customers really... too poor.

padi89

leninbenjamin wrote: »

besides if a Superquinn or another Tesco went in there as everyone wanted Dunnes Westside would have closed, possibly within two years definitely within 5. anyone with a car would have driven up the road to them, so that would leave the students only to buy from 'em, and we don't make for great principal customers really... too poor.

There is no way Dunnes in Westside would have closed.They have a huge catchment area already in the Newcastle area, students or no students.

padi89

leninbenjamin wrote: »

jaysus anytime i've been in there the fruit and veg has been ****e. it's pretty much everyone's big complaint about the place.

I find it to be better than Dunnes,Tesco and Supervalu(although it has nowhere near the selection), you just got to get it in the morning,preferably before lunch.
TBH fruit and veg can vary so much in any shop one day its great the next its crap.

kevmy

I use Dunnes in Terryland as it's the nearest. Also dislike Tesco as a company. They muscled almost everyone else out of the market in England to the extent that for every £8 spent in the highstreet £1 is spent in Tesco. They have a virtual monopoly in a lot of places. I don't want to see that happen here.

Dunnes are alright. It's usually the same sh1t I'd buy in Tesco anyway if I was shopping there with ever so slightly different prices.

Have to sat though Dunnes raspberry jam .. yum!

Webbs

Dunnes has an unbelievably poor selection of food, they have a complete monopoly on Galway and as a result I have never lived anywhere with as poor a selection of foodstuffs from chain stores. One benefit is that I tend to shop from smaller more specialist shops which at least gives them my custom (though doesn't help my wallet).
In the UK Tescos is a behemoth that does to Uk towns what Dunnes is doing here BUT they at least have a variety of foods there not the bland Dunnes stuff, not everyone in Ireland wants to eat 'meat and 2 veg' permanently

galvianlord

Dunnes in Edward Square is absolutely terrible. On a Monday evening you cannot get an onion for fecks sake! it's like they were swamped over the weekend and didnt order in enough vegetables to last....ridiculous! this goes from two weeks in row experience.

ScumLord

Ahh, poor city folks complaining about there cheap food not being cheap enough. I have no pity at all for ye. We've got a Eurospar supermarket you never seen money disappear as fast going in there. It's either that or the petrol stations they might as well just be stealing the money straight out of your pockets.

If I had the choice I'd buy Irish, dunnes stores all the way.

cornbb

ScumLord wrote: »

If I had the choice I'd buy Irish, dunnes stores all the way.

Tbh I'd rather give my money to a publicly traded UK-based company than an Irish company whose owners paid millions in bribes to a former Taoiseach ("Ben there, Dunne that, bought the Taoiseach" )

They all hire local people, at the end of the day.

padraig71

All supermarkets have a bad effect on suppliers, variety and a host of other aspects of the food industry, but we all give them our custom because they are cheap so we are all complicit. There are quite a few local grocers and butchers in town if you choose to patronise them, as well as the market.

As for homegrown food, Dunnes in Eyre Square at the moment has out of season food like asparagus - in November! - brought from Brazil or somewhere. So wherever you buy, the decision to buy responsibly is still up to the individual. It's more about what foods you buy than where you buy them a lot of the time.

ScumLord

padraig71 wrote: »

All supermarkets have a bad effect on suppliers, variety and a host of other aspects of the food industry, but we all give them our custom because they are cheap so we are all complicit. There are quite a few local grocers and butchers in town if you choose to patronise them, as well as the market.

Agreed! I don't think it any more expensive than going to the supermarket. I have rarely ever spent more than tenner (usually around the €5 -€6 mark) in my local butchers and that order would include a weeks worth of sausages and rasher,s and a steak.

I've never actually checked the price difference because the quality of the meat is so much better and I feel like I'm getting much better value. Every time I go into Eurospar I rarely leave the place without spending at least €15 and have **** all to show for it. Allot of the meat comes from local farmers. I'm practically one step away from going out and selecting the cow I want.

kevmy

cornbb wrote: »

Tbh I'd rather give my money to a publicly traded UK-based company than an Irish company whose owners paid millions in bribes to a former Taoiseach ("Ben there, Dunne that, bought the Taoiseach" )

They all hire local people, at the end of the day.

First Dunnes' didn't pay money to CJH Ben Dunne did seperately from the company.
Second Ben Dunne has no longer any dealings with Dunnes Stores
Third just because local people are employed makes little difference all the tax money (or the majority of it) goes back to the home country in this case England
Fourth buying from an Irish company means there is a better chance of the goods being Irish as Tesco sell alot of the same stuff the use for the English market here
Fifth neither employ local anyway there all Polish!!!

cornbb

kevmy wrote: »

First Dunnes' didn't pay money to CJH Ben Dunne did seperately from the company.
Second Ben Dunne has no longer any dealings with Dunnes Stores

He was a director of Dunnes Stores at the time, as a family owned company I think the difference between a company paying a bribe and its owners/directors paying a bribe is pretty trivial.

Third just because local people are employed makes little difference all the tax money (or the majority of it) goes back to the home country in this case England

How/why would a company operating in Ireland (Tesco Ireland Ltd) send the majority of its taxes back to Britain? They pay PRSI for their workers, the workers pay PAYE, they pay rates to local corporations etc etc...

Fourth buying from an Irish company means there is a better chance of the goods being Irish as Tesco sell alot of the same stuff the use for the English market here

I don't think so necessarily, all the fresh meat seems to be Irish, most of the veg, pretty much all the same brands you see in Dunnes. The exception of course would be more exotic stuff like unusual veg, spices etc, but Dunnes don't stock that stuff anyway.

Fifth neither employ local anyway there all Polish!!!

Riiight...

galah

sgthighway wrote: »

Does any body remember Kumarket???

I remember Kumarket - geez, it was bad! But that was a looong time ago, when anything beyond Merlin Park was still a field, and I was a young Erasmus student...;-)

I *would like* to shop in Tescos, but it's simply not worth the hassle (seriously, that car park, and the exit, are just a nightmare!!!). So it's Dunnes for me, most of the time (I hate the one in Westside with a passion, though). The one in Terryland is grand, lots of parking etc, and the Briarhill one is ok, but best be avoided at peak times, thanks to idiotic road planning...


I still find choice a bit of a problem in general, though - you get 700 varieties of baked beans, but no real selection of meat, for example...Then again, Ireland has come a long way since the "white and red cheddar" days...so I won't complain ;-)

MayoForSam

Speaking of supermarkets in Westside, anyone remember H.Williams back in the '80's? Bit like something from Ceausescu's Romania (evolved into Dunnes today). When they went bust and were selling off everything, us poor students were able to buy tins of peas for 1p, got about a 100, happy days.

One thing about Tesco's in Galway is the fact that the electrical/hardware/clothes section is at the other end of the shopping centre, not very convenient.

I heard that the new Tesco in Claremorris has petrol/diesel pumps, Galway Tesco are a long way off offering that service. And Tuam got planning turned down for a Tesco there, so they're hardly taking over the country are they?

Toto Wolfcastle

MayoForSam wrote: »

One thing about Tesco's in Galway is the fact that the electrical/hardware/clothes section is at the other end of the shopping centre, not very convenient.

Tis like that in one of the Cork ones too, but it's never bothered me. Another of the ones in Cork is after getting done up, even though it's only a few years old, and it's looking great, has a huge clothes/electrical/entertainment section. What's the selection of fresh deli items, etc, lke in Tesco in Galway? My mum shops in one of the older Tescos because the one closest to us does not have a deli counter. (it might now since the refurb) In the last few weeks she's bought ham from the deli counter and it's been gone off because people aren't buying it. My only problem with Tesco in Galway is that I ordered online and they didn't have any fresh chicken fillets on a Tuesday afternoon. I've never been there so I don't know if this is very common.

Having said that, Dunnes in Westside never seem to have them either. Prefer the butchers anyway.

padi89

Any supermarket is grand with me they are all pretty much the same.If you want to get decent fresh food go to the market or one of the smaller specialst shops.Too many people rely on everything under one roof, obviously due to busy lives but its worth it to take a bit more time for your food choices.

The Freeman

i find that marks and spencer have the best quality food in general but their range is limited, tesco's is prob the best supermarket in galway in my opinion!

Fey!

I tend to use Dunnes and Aldi in Westside. The girlfriend uses Tesco and Lidl occasionally. I also use local butchers, and the market on a Saturday.

Went to Dunnes in Briarhill a couple of weeks ago, and got oversharged for an item. Brought it to the attention of customer service, and ended up with a refund AND got to keep the item. Must go back and see if they'll overcharge me for one of their 42" TVs....

As for Kumarket; everything out of date all of the time!!! Buy their meat at your peril!
H Williams didn't last very long. Anyone remember when we had a Woolworth in Eyre Square? Or Quinnsworth?

Someone mentioned Superquinn earlier. Isn't it's main shareholder a Galway businessman?

leninbenjamin

Fey! wrote: »

Isn't it's main shareholder a Galway businessman?

don't think he's the main shareholder. but yeah, it's yer man who owns Buskers.

Dalfiatach

The quality of the food in Galway supermarkets is feckin awful. Most Irish people think it's grand cos they've never lived in other countries and don't know any better, but if you've lived abroad you know that the "food" we get sold here is pure sh!te.

Even the small local butchers and greengrocers aren't exactly the best.

The meat especially is ganking putrid crap altogether, especially the offal they serve up in Dunnes, Tesco etc. I wouldn't feed it to me dog back home.

Speaking of home, the difference in quality of meat especially but also fruit and veg between Galway (or Dublin, lived there too once upon a time) and Donegal/Derry is shocking. Anywhere around Letterkenny, Inishowen or Derry I know loads of great butchers and greengrocers that provide great stuff, locally-produced where possible, at a reasonable price. The food is just far, far better in the NW.

I've lived in the US, Switzerland and Ingerlund too over the decades, and travelled to many many countries. The food in Galway is one step up from raw sewage.

Webbs

Dalfiatach wrote: »

Speaking of home, the difference in quality of meat especially but also fruit and veg between Galway (or Dublin, lived there too once upon a time) and Donegal/Derry is shocking. Anywhere around Letterkenny, Inishowen or Derry I know loads of great butchers and greengrocers that provide great stuff, locally-produced where possible, at a reasonable price. The food is just far, far better in the NW.

.

I disagree with you there, there are several decent and a couple of excellent Butchers in and around Galway, locally sourced meat, and in the case of beef properly hung etc.

padi89

Dalfiatach wrote: »

The quality of the food in Galway supermarkets is feckin awful. Most Irish people think it's grand cos they've never lived in other countries and don't know any better, but if you've lived abroad you know that the "food" we get sold here is pure sh!te.

Even the small local butchers and greengrocers aren't exactly the best.

The meat especially is ganking putrid crap altogether, especially the offal they serve up in Dunnes, Tesco etc. I wouldn't feed it to me dog back home.

Speaking of home, the difference in quality of meat especially but also fruit and veg between Galway (or Dublin, lived there too once upon a time) and Donegal/Derry is shocking. Anywhere around Letterkenny, Inishowen or Derry I know loads of great butchers and greengrocers that provide great stuff, locally-produced where possible, at a reasonable price. The food is just far, far better in the NW.

I've lived in the US, Switzerland and Ingerlund too over the decades, and travelled to many many countries. The food in Galway is one step up from raw sewage.

A bit OTT there mate.;)
If you want good meat there are two well known champion butchers in Galway.
As for fruit and veg if you want good local in season produce hit the market.

Lidl is my favourite, solely for price. It's about 2 minutes away from me, so I go there every week or so - I mean c'mon, 1euro50 for a 2 litre bottle of Pepsi!

But also, I find that had I bought similar stuff in Dunnes, it would've been twice the price.

Lockstep

I remember working in Dunnes, they had a newspaper article above the clocking machine. Article about rotten meat in Joyce's or something. Cheap ploy as you couldn't miss it when clocking in so they tried to indoctrinate you against Joyce's.