Shopping in Northern Ireland

sudo911

JohnOwonga wrote: »

What about all the driving time both ways you cannot buy frozen or chilled items plus the cost of petrol is all this realistic?

John

Well, I travelled up from Gorey yesterday at 9am to Cookstown (eventually got up about 12pm) - did all the regular grocery shopping in Asda (parked right up outside the main door and wasnt busy at all).

We then drove to Tesco and Iceland in Dungannon and filled a couple of trolleys with frozen foods. Purchased a few insulated (not really freezer bags) and put these in the car box mounted on the roof of the car. Came back via Newry and stopped into Currys (only giving 80c to the £) and Smyths for some toys. It's so cold at the moment that the items were all still frozen by the time we got back to Gorey 4 hours later! Obviously the speed at which I was travelling might have had something to do with that :rolleyes:

Obviously wouldnt recommend it on a summers day tho!

Sudo911.

brettmirl

Am heading up north in the morning....been to Belfast, Newry and Lisburn before.

Anyone been to Sainsburys (or other supermarkets) in Craigavon or Armagh?

Would they be worth going to instead of Belfast or Lisburn.

Will be going mostly for booze (and some food).

sudo911

mick_irl wrote: »

Am heading up north in the morning....been to Belfast, Newry and Lisburn before.

Anyone been to Sainsburys (or other supermarkets) in Craigavon or Armagh?

Would they be worth going to instead of Belfast or Lisburn.

Will be going mostly for booze (and some food).

Asda is generally cheaper AFAIK. Some things like fruit/veg/some meats not cheaper at all. Best to buy any perishables down here.

Wertz

mick_irl wrote: »

Am heading up north in the morning....been to Belfast, Newry and Lisburn before.

Anyone been to Sainsburys (or other supermarkets) in Craigavon or Armagh?

Would they be worth going to instead of Belfast or Lisburn.

Will be going mostly for booze (and some food).

Was in Banbridge outlet (big savings in some of shops there) and then Craigavon via Sprucefield yesterday. Sainsbury's in Rushmere was a lot quieter than Lisburn (which we walked out of), had decent stock levels(although it is smaller).
Also a Tesco in Rushmere but my mate's g/f was in it and didn't rate it as much as Sainsbury's. The offy in Sainsbury's Craigavon is a separate shop which is handy.
Plenty of parking and decent selection of shops.
Came home on back roads, no traffic until the fiveways r'about in Newry...

Trinket

I'm planning on heading up to Newry on Monday morning, leaving around 7.30. Any ideas about the traffic volume ??? I'd hate to be sitting for hours in traffic if I could help it

gurramok

RadekPL wrote: »

Just a silly question. How much would I have to spend on groceries, household, off license and clothes for the trip to the North to be financially justified ? I have to travel 250km to Newry one way, go through toll twice, have no kids, no pets just the two of us. I don't have a PhD in math but somehow I think that I would have to buy a van full of stuff to pay off for the petrol and the whole day lost. I guess if you don't have 3 kids, two dogs and a cat, you don't drink 3 bottles of wine and 10 pints of Heineken per week, you buy 2 pair of new shoes/year and same amount of new sweaters and trousers its just not worth it.

Your too far away

The nearer you live to the border, the more benefit it is. Cars usually do 9miles a litre so doing a bit of sums at 160mi each way, you need 35 litres of petrol which is about 35euro down here.

So basically, if you save more than 35euro, your saving. The more you buy for lets say the month, the more you save.

JohnOwonga wrote:

What about all the driving time both ways you cannot buy frozen or chilled items plus the cost of petrol is all this realistic?

I'd second what sudi said. I bought 22 packets of frozen/fridge stuff and they were still cold in my cool bags by the time i got back to dublin at 8pm(bought items at 1pm). Cold weather helps as well

Wertz

The general mob rule about Newry seems to be to get there as early as you can...what people don't seem to take into account is that people in Newry work and do school runs and all that mundane stuff too, and that the extra shopping traffic snarls up an already busy road (the hill from the r'about/bridge to the quays).
Anytime I go down I avoid the hill and head on down the bypass a bit and either turn right after the footbridge (currently traffic lighted) or turn left back in the camlough rd (beside the railway station) or else head for the B&Q retail park and use the armagh rd to get into the town the back way (this way uses a 1way system and you'd do well to look at it on a map first).
However none of this advice negates the bottleneck at the end of the M1 and the roadworks there aren't helping ATM...

muffler

Dman001 wrote: »

Does anyone know what shops precisely are offering the euro=pound deal? That article didnt mention them. Any big shops like Argos, Asda, HMV etc.?

See my post - #1220

Argos, Asda and the likes will give an exchange rate which you can check ion advance by ringing them.

northdubgal

Is there much of a saving for buying cosmetics like Dermalogica across the border?

We always do our monthly shopping in Newry and we will have to go up to get the last bits and pieces (and boooze) for crimbo.

I wouldnt mind stocking up on cosmetics as I would usually spend the guts of €150 down here for 6 months..

Anyone know if there are any savings to be made??

muffler

RadekPL wrote: »

Just a silly question. How much would I have to spend on groceries, household, off license and clothes for the trip to the North to be financially justified ? I have to travel 250km to Newry one way, go through toll twice, have no kids, no pets just the two of us. I don't have a PhD in math but somehow I think that I would have to buy a van full of stuff to pay off for the petrol and the whole day lost. I guess if you don't have 3 kids, two dogs and a cat, you don't drink 3 bottles of wine and 10 pints of Heineken per week, you buy 2 pair of new shoes/year and same amount of new sweaters and trousers its just not worth it.

Better of at home so.

newmills

sudo911 wrote: »

Well, I travelled up from Gorey yesterday at 9am to Cookstown (eventually got up about 12pm) - did all the regular grocery shopping in Asda (parked right up outside the main door and wasnt busy at all).

We then drove to Tesco and Iceland in Dungannon and filled a couple of trolleys with frozen foods. Purchased a few insulated (not really freezer bags) and put these in the car box mounted on the roof of the car. Came back via Newry and stopped into Currys (only giving 80c to the £) and Smyths for some toys. It's so cold at the moment that the items were all still frozen by the time we got back to Gorey 4 hours later! Obviously the speed at which I was travelling might have had something to do with that :rolleyes:

Obviously wouldnt recommend it on a summers day tho!

Sudo911.

Hi Sudo,

Glad to hear you made it up and down in one piece. Hope you enjoyed a hassle free shop in mid-ulster. Makes the slightly longer journey worth it!!

flogen

Can anyone tell me what kind of exchange rate Currys/Dixons are giving in the North at the moment? Would it just be the standard or are they giving anything better than that?

muffler

patmac wrote: »

Here is a spread sheet of what we bought in ASDA in Enniskillen we saved €211 and the booze isn't included.Attachment not found.

This has to be one of the best posts if not the best in this thread. I decided to pull it up again for the benefit of people just entering the thread as they would most likely have missed it.

Just bear in mind that it was posted over 5 weeks ago so the savings would be substantially more now.

muffler

flogen wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what kind of exchange rate Currys/Dixons are giving in the North at the moment? Would it just be the standard or are they giving anything better than that?

They would normally give you close on the exchange rate which as you are probably aware fluctuates a bit. Im not aware of them having any "specials" for euro shoppers.

In any even you will most likely have to pay in sterling.

brettmirl

Wertz wrote: »

Was in Banbridge outlet (big savings in some of shops there) and then Craigavon via Sprucefield yesterday. Sainsbury's in Rushmere was a lot quieter than Lisburn (which we walked out of), had decent stock levels(although it is smaller).
Also a Tesco in Rushmere but my mate's g/f was in it and didn't rate it as much as Sainsbury's. The offy in Sainsbury's Craigavon is a separate shop which is handy.
Plenty of parking and decent selection of shops.
Came home on back roads, no traffic until the fiveways r'about in Newry...

Hey Wertz,

Thanks for the info - what time were you in Lisburn at?

I'm planning to be there around 8am, providing the roads arent too icy in the morning!

Wertz

Left Dundalk ~10:15am...was pulling in to Banbridge outlet (after missing the off ramp and having to double back) at 10:55am.
Shopped there for 90min or so and then took the A1 to Sprucefield...was in Argos there at 12:50pm. About 25 minutes got me to Craigavon from Lisburn-Sprucefield.
All at legal speed limits...PSNI are a lot more stringent on speeding than the GS...

Sarah.Wu

Just wondering to know, the sales in Belfast is start or not???

Thanks Guys!!!

JohnOwonga

mohenley wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has been up the north recently for shopping and if there are still good bargains? I was thinking of going to Newry in next few weeks (live in Kildare) but Sainsburys is more expensive than other supermarkets with exception of waitrose (from scotland so know that sainsburys always slightly dearer), is there any other supermarkets in Newry or Lisburn worth checking out? Looking for drink and household bargains really (and the 2 for 1 offers).

>>>>>
Have a look at this phenomenon could it be adopted for a Standard £200.00 uk sterling worth of groceries needs some thinking out of course
see
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/FindDealsOnline/ChinasNewShoppingCrazeTeamBuying.aspx

Dooish

asda offering euro = 85p from sat 6 dec

big b

northdubgal wrote: »

Is there much of a saving for buying cosmetics like Dermalogica across the border?

We always do our monthly shopping in Newry and we will have to go up to get the last bits and pieces (and boooze) for crimbo.

I wouldnt mind stocking up on cosmetics as I would usually spend the guts of €150 down here for 6 months..

Anyone know if there are any savings to be made??

If it's any help, we were in Enniskillen yesterday & the moisture cream Mrs Big B usually pays €15+ for was £5.25. Loreal night cream of some sort

In other news, did anyone else hear that woman from Data.ie (?) on the Matt Cooper show today? Trying to say that there's no big savings to be made up North!:D Ah, how I lolled. She said that one of their staff did a "typical basket" shop in Newry & the saving was 2euro!
Jeez, I saved €2.30 on a litre of OJ that we buy every week.

The shops here are going to have to try a hell of a lot harder than that to try & win customers back.

Our man in Havana

They are trying to win the propaganda war. It might convince Mrs. Culchie living in Kerry.

We all know different of course.

tvr

Anyone got a link for traffic info on Newry?

Richard

Bond-007 wrote: »

They are trying to win the propaganda war. It might convince Mrs. Culchie living in Kerry.

We all know different of course.

Well, someone living in Kerry mightn't save a great deal when fuel costs are taken into consideration!

Btw if you plan to visit specific shops, put their post code into a route planning site or your sat nav if you have one. You can get postcodes on the Yellow Pages site www.yell.com

kaiser soza

Has anyone seen this new sale that started today in Woolworths, there are stores in Lisburn and the Park Centre in Belfast, I am going up on Sunday myself.

brettmirl

Are you sure there is one in Lisburn?

Wertz

big b wrote: »

In other news, did anyone else hear that woman from Data.ie (?) on the Matt Cooper show today? Trying to say that there's no big savings to be made up North!:D Ah, how I lolled. She said that one of their staff did a "typical basket" shop in Newry & the saving was 2euro!
Jeez, I saved €2.30 on a litre of OJ that we buy every week.

The shops here are going to have to try a hell of a lot harder than that to try & win customers back.

Heard her on Last Word and another minion on Drivetime the previous day, making similar claims...they're not lying, but they are doing a very selective shop and a very small one...anyone that drives 100 miles for a basket of shopping is mental, we all know that. Plus they didn't include drink "because it's not an essential".
On the subject of groceries alone, I find that the biggest savings to be made are on chocaltae, biscuts, crisps, frozen food, cereals, soft drinks, canned goods and whatever's on BOGOF offer. Fresh meat can be hit and miss, similar with fruit and veg...some things are cheaper but certainly not everything. Bread I've found can be a bit more expensive (depending on brand). Another huge area of saving is the prices for basic, store-branded products of all types, when you compare sainsburys NI to Tesco IE...the prices are at LEAST a svaing of 40% on average.
More protectionist sh*te from a group concerned solely wioth the interests of it's members...they would do better to look at the pricing structures of certain suppliers in the Irish market and pulling their members into line instead of trying to hoodwink the public...

brettmirl

Agreed Wertz!

Some stuff is more expensive than down here. I found the cleaning products (like Comfort, dishwasher tablets, etc) to be cheaper down here.

But overall, the savings are substantial. On top of that, there is a much bigger variety of offer across the range than there is down here.

kaiser soza

Yes there is one around the coner from the top of Antrim Street facing Easons. It is on Bow Street.

Adamcp898

JohnOwonga wrote: »

>>>>>
Have a look at this phenomenon could it be adopted for a Standard £200.00 uk sterling worth of groceries needs some thinking out of course
see
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/FindDealsOnline/ChinasNewShoppingCrazeTeamBuying.aspx

Sure lets just go the whole way and arrange to meet a 3 in the morning crowbars in hand :pac:

big b wrote: »

In other news, did anyone else hear that woman from Data.ie (?) on the Matt Cooper show today? Trying to say that there's no big savings to be made up North!:D Ah, how I lolled. She said that one of their staff did a "typical basket" shop in Newry & the saving was 2euro!
Jeez, I saved €2.30 on a litre of OJ that we buy every week.

Yes lots to be saved on Tropicana

jackie.du

I am heading to north tomorrow morning. but not newry.went to newry last week and it's packed.so need all of your advise where is the best place to get food and electronics stuff. I've love somewhere where adas and saitsbury are not too far away.also can any one advise where I can find a saitsbury service station on the way to fill my car I know they are doing a 5P off offer as you spend over 50 pound. also, any one know if the sales in the north already started?