Shopping in Northern Ireland

TarfHead

tregan wrote: »

as i'm going up to newry tonigt .. to pick up something for my daughter as price in irish argos is over eur30 dearer!

Balbriggan to Newry, return, to 'save' EUR 30.00 ? Seriously ?

dlambirl

I got two cameras in argos on monday and I saved €20.00 on each of them - thats €40.00 i saved by going across the border.

Yes - its DEFINITELY a saving!

Hard Larry

Was in The Quays this morning.

A-Wear is selling at 1 euro to 1 GBP.

GF bought a skirt for 20 GBP reduced from 40...marked for 60 euro on the tag

Sainsbury's were 1 euro to 0.93 GBP.....and the plastic bags were free!

1 Litre Bottle of Vodka was 14 GBP in Sainsbury's same with Bacardi

Lots of 3 for 2 deals and 2 for 5 pound deals.

Parking was tough at The Quays lots of driving around in circles.

Furp

Here is an idea of just one saving in Argos I made, we more then made up the cost of the trip to Sprucefield many times over.

One thing to watch out for is that when stock level is low in Argos Extra they don't seem to let you reserve them. All the items we bought could not be reserved but thankfully they were in stock.

Little Tikes Play Smarter Cook 'N' Learn Kitchen. (cat no. 0533450) £48.89 * on argos.co.uk
http://www.argos.co.uk/ProductDisplayTRK019?partNumber=0533450

Little Tikes Play Smarter Cook 'N' Learn Kitchen. (cat no. 0533450) EUR99.99 * on Argos.ie
http://www.argos.ie/ProductDisplayTRK019?partNumber=0533450

Price charge to my credit card for the kitchen is €55.56

muffler

And just another reminder for people if they see something cheap in Lidl or Aldi then get it in their NI stores as there are substantial savings to be made.

slave1

Aldi are not in Northern Ireland

tregan

well i do have a few other pressies to get for creche minders and some other bits so yes it's worth my while and doesn't even take eur20 petrol money to get there so definitely savings to be made

want to get some christmas clothes for myself too and when i see the exchange price on tickets in stores in pavillions it annoys me so am making a new year resolution to travel more often to newry! i'm sure brian cowan will hate me!

oh yes if you see me struggling dlambirl please help me!! heading off this minute

Richard

slave1 wrote: »

Aldi are not in Northern Ireland

And I think Lidl in Ni is part of the Irish arm of Lidl rather than the British one if that makes a difference.

Also, in reply to the person asking about CastleCourt, there is a Tesco Metro nearby though I don't think there's a car park so it might be handier to go to Tesco at Yorkgate.

kingshankly

Hard Larry wrote: »

Was in Quayside this morning.

A-Wear is selling at 1 euro to 1 GBP.

GF bought a skirt for 20 GBP reduced from 40...marked for 60 euro on the tag

Sainsbury's were 1 euro to 0.93 GBP.....and the plastic bags were free!

1 Litre Bottle of Vodka was 14 GBP in Sainsbury's same with Bacardi

Lots of 3 for 2 deals and 2 for 5 pound deals.

Parking was tough at Quayside lots of driving around in circles.

quayside is a pub in newry i didnt realise you could get all the above there;)maybe you go drinking in the quays shopping centre;)

kingshankly

was in newry today around 4 went to dunnes 92p plenty of parking and empty aisles

dreamer_ire

maryjane1 wrote: »

could i get some advice please. im going to head north in the morning. i usually head to newry every month or so but with all the reports im hearing i dont know whether to head to enniskillen instead.

ill be coming from dublin and ill have sat nav but is it hard to get to ie whats the chances of me getting lost half way even with sat nav. also are there many shops around the supermarkets for gifts?

im going to leave about half 5 or six so i should beat the rush whichever one i go to

Come to Belfast, you have all the shops you could want in the city centre... almost all of them with offers. You'll also pass The Outlet in Banbridge on your way and Sprucefield which has M&S, Sainsbury, Boots etc etc. You can't miss them either, both are signposted and literally just off the main road. Enjoy your shopping!

Hard Larry

kingshankly wrote: »

quayside is a pub in newry i didnt realise you could get all the above there;)maybe you go drinking in the quays shopping centre;)

If its an apology you're looking for then I'm desperatly sorry I'll strive to ensure that my indication of geograpical sites for consumerism are to a high standard in the future and fully intend to chastise myself for this indiscretion of incorrectly posting the name of a place I have only ever visited once.

For all those people who I may have sent in the wrong direction will you ever find it in your hearts to forgive me?

For the other people who put 2+2 together and realised where I was talking about and had the common decency not to try and publicly ridicule my mistake and wish to continue on with the topic at hand...

I also was in Waterstones bookstore in The Quays (not to be confused with a local drinking establishment called "The Quayside") and purchased at least 5-6 novels at the displayed UK price printed on the back cover as opposed to the Euro price that some Bookstrores in Ireland are inclined to make up.

I did find HMV to be more or less the same standard of pricing as HMVs in the Republic but several boxed sets seemed cheap enough even compared to some online delivery services (if you were to inclued P&P)

Fnz

Hard Larry wrote: »

For the other people who put 2+2 together and realised where I was talking about and had the common decency not to try and publicly ridicule my mistake and wish to continue on with the topic at hand...

In fairness, kingshankly used, not one, but two 'winkies' in his post. I'd consider that an indication of him being playfully jocular.

Thanks for the info in your previous post btw.

kingshankly

Aah larry calm down calm down (in my best Scouse accent)

Skyuser

I can't quite believe the savings here myself.

Argos Irl €2549.99

Argos NI €1531.94 (£1438.19)


Save €1018.05

dealhunter

Was in the Sainbury store in Lisburn and could not believe the checkout receipt. It wasnt just the booze but normal groceries were much cheaper. I have been going up North since September but with the £ at 0.94!! and destined for parity it can only get cheaper.

Only downside is the bloody journey, Im sick of making it so can someone tell me why sainsbury cant/wont deliver to Irl??? Would be happy to shop online and pay someone to deliver it....anyone feel the same??

veryangryman

If anyone wants a money-making idea...

If you have a Van, advertise your services to people you know locally. Tell them to give you their shopping list, and for (say) €20 fee you can get their stuff up north for them.

Get about 20 people in on the act and youve just got €400 for one days work.

And before people start talking about customs/excise duty or whether this is legal, im just saying you COULD do it with a bit of common sense. :pac:

Our man in Havana

Skyuser wrote: »

I can't quite believe the savings here myself.

Argos Irl €2549.99

Argos NI €1531.94 (£1438.19)


Save €1018.05

That is criminal. Argos do it with almost everything they sell. I bought a TV in Argos last week for £400 (€450) and the same TV is almost €800 here.

tregan

well got up to the quays at about 8pm last night and thought i'd get parked with little bother - wrong! centre was v busy but got my sainsbury trolley avoiding a shop in sainsburys as looked v busy also so went to get my toy kitchen in argos for £26.39 as opposed to eur36.99 and then to a-wear to pick up some trousers and some other bits. off to next to buy some more things and finally to the car with my purchases .... if you saw some one creating havoc with a shopping trolley dlambirl - that was me and you didn't help!

then went over to the buttercrane centre, parked easily and it was quieter in there than the quays ... didn't get to m&s as too tired after i walked everywhere else i needed to .... got good value in boots with their 3 for 2 and things that bit cheaper as they are taking 2.5% VAT off the displayed prices

all in all a good night and got home at 11.30, into bed and couldn't sleep for hours thinking of things i should have got - if i had the time and energy to go up again before christmas i think i would! listening to the radio BBC Radio 2 on the way home and they spoke of the new low i.e. 93.3pence to euro and they are forecasting parity with in the month!

Our man in Havana

1 euro=94.3p now.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1218/euro.html

Racket

Bond-007 wrote: »

That is criminal. Argos do it almost everything they sell. I bought a TV in Argos last week for £400 (€450) and the same TV is almost €800 here.

the 26 inch lg tv I got was the same, granted I bought it in May and it cost me €512 at the exchange rate then, I never saw the £ taking this drop or I might have waited but I still saved about €300.

I need a new laptop for college next month s I'll probably be able to get it for less than half price up north now.

JAMM222

im heading up at lunchtime! just rang bank of ireland to see what there rate is, they quoted 90p to the euro so i asked him for a quote for £500 and he said including commision it will cost me € 559.43 so i am wondering if i should just bring euros up with me as i might get a better rate up there?

milltown

JAMM222 wrote: »

im heading up at lunchtime! just rang bank of ireland to see what there rate is, they quoted 90p to the euro so i asked him for a quote for £500 and he said including commision it will cost me € 559.43 so i am wondering if i should just bring euros up with me as i might get a better rate up there?

As far as I know, if you use a credit card you will get closer to the wholesale rate, i.e. the rate you hear in the news. Only a good idea if you're good at clearing the card within a month or two though.

whatsupdoc?

centre was v busy

Only chance the locals get to do their shopping

.90p is a rubbish rate
You should get way better up North from a shop or Bank.
Also don't forget the Bank is using yesterdays closing rate less their margin and commission!
If you pay by CC you will get the rate on the day the debit is processed less their margin and commission.

dlambirl

tregan wrote: »

well got up to the quays at about 8pm last night and thought i'd get parked with little bother - wrong! centre was v busy but got my sainsbury trolley avoiding a shop in sainsburys as looked v busy also so went to get my toy kitchen in argos for £26.39 as opposed to eur36.99 and then to a-wear to pick up some trousers and some other bits. off to next to buy some more things and finally to the car with my purchases .... if you saw some one creating havoc with a shopping trolley dlambirl - that was me and you didn't help!

then went over to the buttercrane centre, parked easily and it was quieter in there than the quays ... didn't get to m&s as too tired after i walked everywhere else i needed to .... got good value in boots with their 3 for 2 and things that bit cheaper as they are taking 2.5% VAT off the displayed prices

all in all a good night and got home at 11.30, into bed and couldn't sleep for hours thinking of things i should have got - if i had the time and energy to go up again before christmas i think i would! listening to the radio BBC Radio 2 on the way home and they spoke of the new low i.e. 93.3pence to euro and they are forecasting parity with in the month!

Ha ha ha ha tregan - only made it into the quays sortly before 10pm and was watching out for someone struggling with an argos bag but seen the shutters going down on Burger King so thought it was better hot-foot it it!!

I went up with 3 other people and i was the only one out of the 4 that didnt get anything. Sainsburys was meant to open until 11pm last night and shut up shop at 10pm. ALot of people werent happy!

ninebeanrows

Euro = 95.3p now

tregan

oh gosh you were late there! i'd nearly finished by then but still lots more i could buy! could you not find anything to buy? socks even!

Racket

Weathercheck wrote: »

Euro = 95.3p now

could probably see parity by xmas now. Just 1 more bit of bad news for the UK economy could tip it over the edge now

Wertz

Racket wrote: »

could probably see parity by xmas now. Just 1 more bit of bad news for the UK economy could tip it over the edge now

Not exactly good news for ours in the grand scheme of things either...but it's an ill wind...

RiverWilde

Racket wrote: »

could probably see parity by xmas now. Just 1 more bit of bad news for the UK economy could tip it over the edge now

How is it bad news for the UK economy? Euro tourists shopping in the UK, exporters in the UK getting more return on their investments, vat receipts rolling in due to higher sales etc.

The bloody reverse of what's happening here in the south - retailers whinging that 'nobody loves them any more and they're off to the garden to eat worms.' Exporters to the UK suffering from the same complaint.

Me? I love it, I get to do my shopping for a whole lot less and I'm not scowled at by southern retailers who try to wring every last penny from my pocket for basic essential items.

Riv