Shopping in Northern Ireland

Cicero

muffler wrote: »

Dont know if you would class them as "specialists" or not but what about Richersounds. They have a store in Belfast and also an interaction forum here on boards. 10% discount too for boardsies - read the sticky at the top of the page in the interaction forum.

Thanks- I will explore them when next up- if anyone else finds a similar shop in Newry or lisburn do please let me know as I may not get to Belfast this side of Christmas

Cicero

anotherlostie wrote: »

I was in Belfast and Banbridge (Outlet) yesterday; Belfast was quiet but the Outlet was deathly quiet, and it seemed to me that quite a few units had shut since my last visit - it was after 6 and a number of places weren't open late. Still got some good value there, and got a coat in House of Fraser for £190 that was €290 down here.

I was there a few months ago on a Sunday and the place was buzzing- weekdays don't appear to be great for these outlet places (even the Kildare outlet store is a ghost town on a Thursday evening) but weekends are v. busy

bcirl03

muffler wrote: »

Dont know if you would class them as "specialists" or not but what about Richersounds. They have a store in Belfast and also an interaction forum here on boards. 10% discount too for boardsies - read the sticky at the top of the page in the interaction forum.

Have used Richersounds loads of times and would recommend them 100%.

The prices are excellent and you can haggle also the staff are very knowledgeable which cant be said for the majority of Peats.

tregan

thanks for the wine tips angela59 and cicero - gives me a guide as i don't have a clue, might go up during the week

appendix

Hello all,

I have never been shopping up the North, and I have been reading pages of links and you all seem to know lots and lots about it... Could anyone tell me for a newbie where the best place to go for a day of shopping Belfast or Newry or any of the other places you have mentioned? We want to go somewhere where there is great value… Could you also let me know which is the best supermarket value wise and if there is anywhere with good deals for clothes, shoes and electronics? I know you probably have this on some page but the 250 pages is a huge trawl… thanks a million

ASTRACLUB

just take M1 towards north and where ever you can stop for shopping in North basically.!!
thats it!!!


you can stop over in Newry to startwith (Butter crane for clothing) and Qeys for normal (Sainsbury)

good Luck

tregan

hi all,

ended up getting wine in m&s as suggested by angela .. met a lovely assistant there as baby was crying so she got the wine, got carriers, brought to the till and helped me pack it into the buggy! got 12 bottles including 3 port for about £44 so think that was good value - the 25% off six bottles ends this weekend for anyone wanting to avail of it

went up shopping for an outfit and spent my time in the buttercrane doing that so that's why i didn't have time to go over to the quays and get a bit of grocery shopping done, that'll have to be another day / week!

appendix, don't have experience of the the follwing shopping centre but heard good reports http://www.the-outlet.co.uk/ there is also http://www.sprucefieldcentre.co.uk/ but there might not be as much there - happy shopping!

_Kooli_

Newstalk today were doing a piece on people shopping up North. They said they had been inundated with requests from retailers in the south not to mention any bargains up north - for the sake of the economy.

Well Brian Lenihan i'll be shopping up North from now on. Why? Because every penny more you have taxed me i must now save. And i dread to think how much public sector workers with their pension levy in addition must have to save by shopping up north now too.

Ive even opened a UK bank account so i can lock in the exchange rate and shop for years into the future. Well done in your budgets, you idiot.

felinefeelins

Kooli
You must have heard the taniste then also saying by shopping up north we were taking money out of the economy................. etc Yadayada. Singing the same song. Therefore it is our fault the economy is in the state its in..........................

Keith C

all good for shopping up north if your buying loads but bear in mind the shops in ROI will havesome good deals, e.g my local eurospar is selling large tins of rose for €4.99 till sunday. So lets try keep some money in our own economy

mailburner

good stuff!
ill buy my sweets down here so and my
beer and spirits up north
still recall paying £14.56 for a one litre bottle of teachers
in asda last dec
that same bottle was 32.99 euro in dunnes briarhill

Plentyofice

Hi

Is there much of a difference in toy shopping up north. There's a Smyths in Naas and one in Newry. I know the value of the Sterling is good for me at the moment but are the toys also in general cheaper up there ? thanks

eimear1

Plentyofice wrote: »

Hi

Is there much of a difference in toy shopping up north. There's a Smyths in Naas and one in Newry. I know the value of the Sterling is good for me at the moment but are the toys also in general cheaper up there ? thanks

Haven't a clue re toys but just have look at both websites for what your looking for, with calculator in hand, and you should be able to compare easily enough, just remember to factor in the cost of getting to Newry
E

felinefeelins

Guys.

Quick question. The exchange rate goes up in Asda @ 8.30 am, is this just Saturday's or is it a daily thing ( same question re Tesco) I normally am heading through the till at 8.30 on a saturday, but with the rate going up n down so much need to know if its worth trying a weekday if rate is good

Thanks in advance

Eemia

Hey guys just want to thank ye for all the info ye gave me when i asked for it! Went up last Saturday got in Newry for 10.10 so didn't hit much traffic.
Went to The Quays, Buttercrane, The outlet, Lisburn and the place just outside Newry with Homebase etc! Got some bargains and thanks again.

Turned out a shop not far from Newry, a bike shop to be exact had a sale on and happened to get a flyer in a newspaper and they had massive reductions and great help there so was really worth the trip for the OH.

Thanks again.

Eemia

RayCon

Finally got around to visiting The Outlet - didn't think much of it until we hit the Nike Store - got my son Air Max 95 BW's for £20 !!! (He's in adults sizes .. eg. 7) The average price for them down here (if you're not fussy about colour and they happen to be on sale is €75) ... the newer "colours" :rolleyes: are €127.50 :eek:

Lots of other bargains too ... like last years lomg sleeve Arsenal Jersey or Inter Milan Jersey's £13 ...

Nike Cortez Mens (€75 down here - £30 up there)

thebiglad

Plentyofice wrote: »

Hi

Is there much of a difference in toy shopping up north. There's a Smyths in Naas and one in Newry. I know the value of the Sterling is good for me at the moment but are the toys also in general cheaper up there ? thanks

It's easy, check out their .ie & .co.uk websites and compare the products you want, if you are buying a few things then definitely worth the trip.

There is a Toys R Us in Lisburn if you want to go another 20 minutes for different selection, also don't forget the supermarkets - right now Sainsburys are selling all toys at 50% off (website is out of stock for everything but may be in luck in their store - Lisburn again. That sale ends Saturday so if interested probably need to be there early!

Good luck

jessryan01

k guys im living in limerick is it really that cheap up the north ive not been so i dont know. i would have to drive up. book a hotel and change to sterling are you seriously telling me its going to be way cheaper to do that?

thebiglad

jessryan01 wrote: »

k guys im living in limerick is it really that cheap up the north ive not been so i dont know. i would have to drive up. book a hotel and change to sterling are you seriously telling me its going to be way cheaper to do that?

It all comes down to how much you are going to spend. If you top up your trip with alcohol then you can really max out the saving.

If you are buying all of your gifts or large electrical items then probably yes!

At worst you will break even and have a weekend break with the money you saved.

veryangryman

thebiglad wrote: »

It all comes down to how much you are going to spend. If you top up your trip with alcohol then you can really max out the saving.

If you are buying all of your gifts or large electrical items then probably yes!

At worst you will break even and have a weekend break with the money you saved.

+1

And who says you need to stay over? 3 and half hour drive - get up early. The supermarkets are 24 hour in Enniskillen. Bring some mates who also want alcohol etc - share the cost of petrol between ye

Dooish

felinefeelins wrote: »

Guys.

Quick question. The exchange rate goes up in Asda @ 8.30 am, is this just Saturday's or is it a daily thing ( same question re Tesco) I normally am heading through the till at 8.30 on a saturday, but with the rate going up n down so much need to know if its worth trying a weekday if rate is good

Thanks in advance

the euro rate changes every saturday for the following full week.

muffler

Dooish wrote: »

the euro rate changes every saturday for the following full week.

Afaik it changes daily. Im open to correction on this though.

ozypozy

We're heading to Newry on Saturday but want to do some clothes shopping as well as food shoppng in Sainsburys.
I'd rather get clothes shopping done first and maybe head to Sainsbury's in Sprucefield rather than going into the one in Newry late morning. Is Sprucefield as mad as Newry is by 11am? I've heard Sprucefield is bigger and has much more stock, also more parking......any advice!

alanjob

Ozy, was in sprucefield today and it was grand. I'd say it was abit busier than usual as they had 50% off all toys but shelves well stocked (unlike newry)

ozypozy

alanjob wrote: »

Ozy, was in sprucefield today and it was grand. I'd say it was abit busier than usual as they had 50% off all toys but shelves well stocked (unlike newry)

cool, thanks for that. We'll head to Sprucefield so!

mmcm888

veryangryman wrote: »

+1

...... The supermarkets are 24 hour in Enniskillen....

Not Quite... Asda/Tesco in Enniskillen are closed on Sunday mornings .. Don't open until about 13:00. Big sign saying 24 hours etc. Small print on small sign gives opening hours. Check online to be 100% sure in the runup to xmas.

m.

In_tuition

Sainsburys petrol station at The Kennedy Centre are no longer accepting € for petrol.

eimear1

mmcm888 wrote: »

Not Quite... Asda/Tesco in Enniskillen are closed on Sunday mornings .. Don't open until about 13:00. Big sign saying 24 hours etc. Small print on small sign gives opening hours. Check online to be 100% sure in the runup to xmas.

m.

NI trading laws very strict on sundays, even if they can trade 24hours the rest of the week they are restricted for sundays, so they are as close to 24hrs as they will get in NI

Cicero

ozypozy wrote: »

We're heading to Newry on Saturday but want to do some clothes shopping as well as food shoppng in Sainsburys.
I'd rather get clothes shopping done first and maybe head to Sainsbury's in Sprucefield rather than going into the one in Newry late morning. Is Sprucefield as mad as Newry is by 11am? I've heard Sprucefield is bigger and has much more stock, also more parking......any advice!

Personally, I always aim for grocery shopping first- all other shopping later, purely on the basis (especially on a Saturday) that the later you leave it, the less choice and the more crowds. 11am in Lisburn will be quite busy though you will get parking- from ure post, it sounds like you will clothes shop in Newry and grocery shop in Lisburn? I'd advise arrive early (8-8.30 am) and complete grocery first- then sit back and enjoy the rest of the shopping trip- it would certainly be a better use of time

Dooish

muffler wrote: »

Afaik it changes daily. Im open to correction on this though.

trust me its weekly, new rate every sat morning