Shopping in Northern Ireland

dodzy

consultech wrote: »

Dodzy, you freakishly did EXACTLY the same route/stores/times myself bro and missusses did with the exception of a pet store on the way to banbridge at 3pm in Ashfield enterprise park.

4 of us spent about £2200 in all - got a ridiculous bounty for that (I reckon we saved about €1-1.5k between us all) including an ipod touch (not great difference to south in fairness) and a laptop for her for christmas (saved about $2-300) in Currys down the Newry bypass road.

I bet we got home to Dublin quicker though! 50 mins from Newry to South Dub, 180 kmh most of the way... VTech baby!

Hey consultech, Newry to south dub in 50mins :eek: Quattro 1.8T here; I was just pottering home watching Venus on its orbital path which put it visually up the moons ass:D

Nice purchases !;)

kingshankly

was in sainsburys in newry this afternoon while it was busy but not crazy only 2 in each checkout queue but the shelves were empty youl never get a full shop in there end up buying "specials" cause there cheap regardless of need would much prefer dunnes in newry

soccerc

dodzy wrote: »

Hey consultech, Newry to south dub in 50mins :eek:

Bet someone missed the Gatso vans on the southbound carriageway, the first north of Dundalk and the second south of the Drogheda toll booth.;)

consultech

thimblefull wrote: »

Bet someone missed the Gatso vans on the southbound carriageway, the first north of Dundalk and the second south of the Drogheda toll booth.;)

Weren't there at 9pm

newmills

sudo911 wrote: »

When you get into Cookstown, where do you go to the Asda? is it relatively easy to find?

Sudo911.

Yeah Asda is dead easy to find. Follow th main A29 dungannon to cookstown road. When you come to large roundabout at the end of the A29 just go straight through for cookstown. About a quarter of a mile you will see Asda on your left, opposite a large Toymaster and McDonald's beside it. Both cookstown and dungannon are fairly decent shopping towns. Dungannon also has a branch of woolworths.

sudo911

newmills wrote: »

Yeah Asda is dead easy to find. Follow th main A29 dungannon to cookstown road. When you come to large roundabout at the end of the A29 just go straight through for cookstown. About a quarter of a mile you will see Asda on your left, opposite a large Toymaster and McDonald's beside it. Both cookstown and dungannon are fairly decent shopping towns. Dungannon also has a branch of woolworths.

Excellent... thanks for the tips...

Mint Sauce

was in derry today, just in the shopping centres, didn't go as far as the supermarkets, seemed the regular saturday crowd, was able to go about quite comfortably, no huge traffic compared to other town centres, some discounts in debenhams, but think their having a load of reductions from tomorrow for three days, great savings in HMV as well got 30 to 50% off on some DVD box sets, new albums 8 to 9.99, although reakon applies to both stores arcoss the provence,

must places havn't sorted their display priceing yet in regard to the VAT, so cheeper than you think when you reach the cheack outs, VAT changes on your till recepts as well

Pat the Baker

Im leaving Sandyford for Banbridge or Lisburn tomorrow morning about 8. Will the M50 be crazy at this time? any other routes i could take to get on the M1?

Dummy

Pat the Baker wrote: »

Im leaving Sandyford for Banbridge or Lisburn tomorrow morning about 8. Will the M50 be crazy at this time? any other routes i could take to get on the M1?

It is always mad at this time. I joined the M50 at roughly 8am today from the Dundrum exit and the tailback had started on the Wickham Bypass. Either leave earlier or later.

Take the Port Tunnel instead - you pay more in tolls but you would spend more on diesel or petrol going around the M50 and you still have a toll to pay.

Dooish

asda enniskillen getting more checkouts for next tuesday the 9th dec

Pat the Baker

Dummy wrote: »

It is always mad at this time. I joined the M50 at roughly 8am today from the Dundrum exit and the tailback had started on the Wickham Bypass. Either leave earlier or later.

Take the Port Tunnel instead - you pay more in tolls but you would spend more on diesel or petrol going around the M50 and you still have a toll to pay.

how much earlier or later? it would take ages to get to the port tunnel too.

Dummy

The M50 is generally OK around 7.30. I also find it OK after 10am.

I still prefer the tunnel though.

aare

I have to be in Newry on Thursday (near Buttercrane) before 11. Starting out from Blessington/Tallaght direction...

Any advice on making it easy on myself?

(I already thought about starting off at about 6:30am :eek:)

smashey

alan4cult wrote: »

What's the story in Derry. I'm heading up there this week. Anywhere good to go for bargains (nothing specific)?

Derry has a couple of Tescos and a Sainsbury. Smyths toystore is beside Sainsburys on the Strand Road.

Try the Crescent Link retail park where you'll find Currys, PC World and Maplin.

itsmine

aare wrote: »

I have to be in Newry on Thursday (near Buttercrane) before 11. Starting out from Blessington/Tallaght direction...

Any advice on making it easy on myself?

(I already thought about starting off at about 6:30am :eek:)

Leave at 9.15am and you'll be in Newry by 10.30am. Newry is about 50 minutes from the M50.

aare

itsmine wrote: »

Leave at 9.15am and you'll be in Newry by 10.30am. Newry is about 50 minutes from the M50.

I know it is usually...but with the roadworks on the Newry bypass and extra delays?

Also, it can often take me 90 mins to make it to the M1 from home - I'm 40 minutes out of Tallaght...then the M50 north tends to take whatever it takes these days - especially at that time.

I usually allow 2 hr 30mins, dodge the toll in Drogheda and make it with 15 minutes or so to spare.

But I can't risk being be late for this because of seasonal traffic.

ASTRACLUB

Looking to buy a 5MP digital camera for my younger sister and my sister in law for xmas but dont wanna pay more than €50-€60 each.

I seen something like this in argos:

.ie: http://http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5608139/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CPhotography%7C10390783/c_2/2%7Ccat_10390783%7CDigital%2Bcameras%7C10390834.htm

.co.uk: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...7C10198098.htm

As i said i need two - tried to check the stock in the argos located in the quays newry (cos its the only one i know of) but there is only one left. Can anyone tell me where i'd find more argos's in the north? or perhaps where i'd find reasonably inexpensive digital cameras?

try www.pixmania.ie i just bought 10mp for 100. However, i believe this query should not have been in this thread and should be in other form. but somewhat it is related to south vs north also:)

mailburner

theres an argos in eniskillen
dont make the mistake i made tho
ring the shop and get them to hold it for you whatever you need
i got to eniskillen to buy a beer fridge which was a lot more expensive here of course but they were outa stock.
i asked them if paying there and collecting in galway was an option
sadly it wasnt
im just not willing to give argos galway 170eu
for something thats £100

Our man in Havana

Reserve online ftw.

mailburner

Bond-007 wrote: »

Reserve online ftw.

that wouldve made more sense

thanks

if only i lived a little closer
ebay next stop i guess

mailburner

Anyway,
here are some of the savings i made by goin to eniskillen on monday and comparisons with dunnes briarhill here which i was in yesterday evening.

Tesco Enisk

Teachers -1 litre Tesco enisk £14.56/17.08eu Dunnes (briarhill galw) 32.99


Bells - 1 litre Tesco en- £13 dunnes (didnt see any)

Freixenet 750ml tesco en - £6.33/7.42eu Dunnes 16.99eu 750ml

Smirnoff 1litre Tesco £13/15.25 (£1 cheaper than asda) Dunnes 27.49


ASDA Eniskillen (This could take a while)

Becks 18x275ml £7/8.21eu Dunnes think it was 16.99 for 12x275ml

Corrs light 20x275ml £7/8.21eu Dunnes 20x330MLS 23.99

Miller 15x330ml £7 Dunnes 20X330ml 15eu (fair play to them there)
Mickey finns 500 ml £4.63/5.42eu Dunnes 13.48

Wines echo falls merlot, arniston bay blossom hill and many others were
£10 for 3 bottles Dunno what dunnes charge

Barardi 1 litre £13.70/16.06 dunnes 27.99
Bulmers 8 pint btls £7 dunnes 8x500ml cans 18.59
Tia maria 1 litre £14.32/16.79 dunnes No idea
Harveys brisol cr 1 litre £6.75/7.91 dunnes 16.66 (cant remember if 1l or 70cl)

Wkd blue £3.82 (4x275ml) or 3 for £10/11.72
Dunnes 10.94eu for 4x275ml only
That a tough one on us 12bottles for 11.72 up north
or 4 bottles here for 10.94 for the exact same thing
Talk about overcharging
Lastly, if like me you followed this link earlier in the thread then
i can tell you this is a mistake
i planned on filling the boot with these alone
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/Shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?Store=1&Product=9806
This is wrong....this is the price for 4 tigers in tesco

there were no 6 packs of this anywhere i checked in either store
tiger 660ml btles were £1.89, again no great shakes dunnes 2.68 for 500ml
No great deals on corona either, were £5.16 for 6

The deal here tho in tesco is hard to beat tho even up north
you're prob not gonna get 48x500ml bud/carls/guinness for 50eu
so fair play to tesco on that one

Asda was quiet up till 11 and quite busy after that but not mental
even the staff told me to avoid goin up saturday if possible
Tesco was quiet all day in comparison and i was in it at 9.30am and
again round 4pm
Dunnes was empty altogether...very small beer selection and no real offers
in comparison, Everything seemed dearer overall, maybe they dont realise theyre in N.I tho i got
6 small btls of luzozade there for £2
Well dunne dunnes for that one


Hope this helps and if anyones wants me to put a list up of some of the
savings i made on food then i will do so tomorrow

chancer_007

Hi All,

Good to see people in this country travelling for a bit of value

was thinking of heading up to sainsburys newry mon/tues morning early.
would the shelves be half empty or are they restocked everynight?

thanks in advance

PurplePrincess

I also went North yesterday for shopping so here's my experience.

left Dublin at 0615, was parking in Asda at Kennedy way just after 8am. the place was empty (its open h24). Plenty of stock, loads of beer/wine/spirits. Good few special offers.

few miles up the Falls road is the Park Centre. Woolworths/Superdrug/Dunnes stores the main tenants. Loads of toys on special in Woolies and great deals on toiletries in Superdrug. Dunnes just cheaper than here with stg diff.

Continued on to Belfast, sales/special offers on in loads of shops. Gap/Boots/Debenhams/Clarks/Zaavi to name a few. Lovely Christmas market in front of city hall, great atmosphere. Parking no problem in Castlecourt centre @1.70 an hour


Stopped in Sainsburys Sprucefield (lisburn) on way home, fairly quiet aswell. similiar special offers to Asda but not as much stock left in alcohol section, however they were offloading pallets of stuff that had just been delivered. You get a petrol discount voucher with your shopping if you need to refuel before you head home.

Also an argos/currys/next home here. If you're wanting stuff from argos, reserve it online and they have an automated in store system, just go to the kiosk, input the res number put in credit card and away you go. Saves queueing.

Basically give Newry a miss!!!!

dade

was up there on Monday

used only 1/4 tank of gas with 4 ppl in the car so not bad.
did the usual beer buying. 8 cans of cider £9 which is about €12 same 8 cans is almost €19 in tesco.

Kellogg's Frosties €1 a box, so about €1.25 a box.

McCain's micro chips. packet of 4 was bout £2 while the same is about €5 in tesco

microwave dinners where £1 each,

tins of sweets are half price

2 * 2l of coke for £2

Games where sweet. Gears of war 2 for xBox was £40 so that's about €48. Wireless network card for xBox was £60 which is about $75 that cost about $100 here.

Stocked up on the shampoo and shower gel. Shaving Gel and stuff like that too huge savings to be made. the trip is really worth it if you're getting more than just beer.

left swords about 7.30 rolled into Salisbury's for about 8.30 and the car park was only about half full. we did all the shopping there then went to the games shops etc,. came back to Salisbury's about 2 PM and it was bloody bedlam in there.

samo

Could do with some Boardsie advice for this...

I'm studying a map of the North and deciding to hit an Asda tomorrow rather than Sainsburys Newry. (and not Eniskillen)

Coming from the Meath direction via Slane onto the M1 - which would be the most direct Asda to reach (with best roads) between Belfast, Cookstown and Omagh - I know the road via Lisburn to Belfast well and that its a good 35 mins past Newry so have an idea for the Belfast one - but ftrying to compare as havent gone that direction before or Cookstown and Omagh - heading up the M1 and turning off in Newry - which is closest and best roads this kind of weather?

smashey

samo wrote: »

Could do with some Boardsie advice for this...

I'm studying a map of the North and deciding to hit an Asda tomorrow rather than Sainsburys Newry. (and not Eniskillen)

Coming from the Meath direction via Slane onto the M1 - which would be the most direct Asda to reach (with best roads) between Belfast, Cookstown and Omagh - I know the road via Lisburn to Belfast well and that its a good 35 mins past Newry so have an idea for the Belfast one - but ftrying to compare as havent gone that direction before or Cookstown and Omagh - heading up the M1 and turning off in Newry - which is closest and best roads this kind of weather?

Omagh would be about 40 minutes from Monaghan so just factor in how long it takes you to get from Slane to Monaghan. Just stay on the N2/A5 going towards Derry. Cookstown is a bit further.

okidoki987

Wines echo falls merlot, arniston bay blossom hill and many others were £10 for 3 bottles Dunno what dunnes charge

Most of the bottles in that offer are €10-12 Euro in Dunnes ROI.
Try the Yellow Tail, beautiful wine and a bargain at £3.33.

leex

okidoki987 wrote: »

Most of the bottles in that offer are €10-12 Euro in Dunnes ROI.
Try the Yellow Tail, beautiful wine and a bargain at £3.33.

Jabobs Creek Shiraz cabernet - 3 for 10ukp (~12 euro) in Asda. 2 for 17euro in Tesco down here.

aidz

Anyone looking for cheap beer...save the petrol and look local.

tesco are doing 2 crates for €50 this week

thats 48x500ml cans with standard strength content (not the 3.2% you sometimes get up north)

budweiser, guiness, heineken, carlsberg and bulmers(the real bulmers - sold in 18 packs)

Rzeznik

We (me and my wife) went North last Sunday.
Left Inchicore at 10:15am. We reached outlet in Bansbridge at 11:45. Had a sandwich and coffee in Subway and started shopping at 1pm. Suprisingly, almost no traffic in Newry.

Then we head to Sainsburys Sprucefield. We left 170E in there and we are good for about 3 weeks as far as shopping is concerned.

Smirnoff 1L - 11£
Carlsberg x 4 cans (568ml each) - 3,99£
(Carlsberg x4 cans (568ml each) ) x2 - 7£
Adidas - 250ml shower gel - 0,94£
Colgate Total - 100ml - 1£ !!

shock !

Travel distance is around 200 miles from Inchicore to Sainsburys Sprucefield, return. Astra 1.4 16V - around 11.5l/100miles, so it costed us around 27E including M1 toll.
Definitely good thing to go there once a month.

PS. Exchange rate was 0,83£ for 1E