Shopping in Northern Ireland

mickoneill30

Dodge wrote: »

I was buying a top for £30 and the guy asked me which currency I wanted to pay, I said I had a CC and he asked again so I said Euro. He then knocked 10% off so charged £27 to credit card (found this strange…)

If they're advertising €1 = £1 then £27 = €29 today. It might have been closer to €30 yesterday. He was probably approximating.

Dodge

I undestand that all that. iwas just pointing out that it was strange I was allowed pay by CC. There was nothign stopping anyone (north or south) saying they want to pay in euros and paying by CC.

aidz

veryangryman wrote: »

No we wont. Anything we pay here is being reinvested poorly between government and businesses so as far as im concerned we cant make things any worse

Whats going to happen is that youll see alot of mergers/consolidations of businesses, much focus on innovation and in the long run, this will benefit jobs here. People adjust when the situation isn't suiting them. Customers are doing it by going north - eventually retailers will also start beign more cost effective

These things have a habit of blowing over anyway. I cant see us still going north in 10 years time to do our shopping

lol

Tonka

I easyily imagine the amount of bad press about shopping in Newry is been stoked by retaillers down south that like to keep products artifically high.

theres now a christmas car park in the "city" centre , though its not well advertised for people that do not know the town.

be warned there is blasting activity on the Newry bypass on Monday,Wednesday and Friday 3-4pm if memory is correct. The bypass is closed during the blast and all clear period.

Guru Maith Agut

Tonka wrote: »

be warned there is blasting activity on the Newry bypass

The legal kind I assume. :cool:

muincav

veryangryman wrote: »

No we wont. Anything we pay here is being reinvested poorly between government and businesses so as far as im concerned we cant make things any worse

Whats going to happen is that youll see alot of mergers/consolidations of businesses, much focus on innovation and in the long run, this will benefit jobs here. People adjust when the situation isn't suiting them. Customers are doing it by going north - eventually retailers will also start beign more cost effective

These things have a habit of blowing over anyway. I cant see us still going north in 10 years time to do our shopping

Dont kid yourself! 10 years? People have been going to Northern Ireland to shop for the last 30-35 years, so I dont think they will stop now...only difference is now we are getting more for our money, a better selection of shops and goods and FRIENDLY staff who can speak English and dont make you feel like you shouldnt even be in the shop--in my opinion, retailers here could take more than one leaf out of the Northern Ireland traders book..

sassa

1. the lady that i over heard complaining that she prefers to pay the extra money down south for the peace and comfort (why were you there then with a full trolley???)
2. The checkout staff are so much more polite than the staff in local tesco and dunnes and most know the offers available on most products eg. if you have an item thats buy one get one free they tell you that you're entitled to another one if you didn't notice it etc..
3. The fact that a girl was called up to a newly opened till by staff and people in front of her start calling her names and one even said "i hope to meet you in the car park" i nearly died with the shame is that really how bad the irish have gotten that we will offer to "TAKE IT OUTSIDE" so to speak.
4. My favourite!!! i actually seen a shop owner that has been doing a lot of complaining in the local papers about people shopping in the north being unpatriotic with not one but two trolley loads of stuff!! Do as i say not as i do eh???

Guru Maith Agut

My main reason for shopping up north...





...free bags. :pac:




Fcuk the environment!

kcools

I'm heading up to Newry tomorrow - need to get my daughter a new mp3/mp4 player. She had her eye on one out of the Argos catalogue but neither of the two shops in Newry have it in stock. Does anybody know of or can anyone reccomend other electrical/audio shops that sell mp3 players etc in Newry specifically?

Can't go any further north than Newry and prefer somewhere in the town centre (I know there's a Curry's but it looks like its a bit of a way out). Any help much appreciated!

V1llianous

kcools wrote: »

I'm heading up to Newry tomorrow - need to get my daughter a new mp3/mp4 player. She had her eye on one out of the Argos catalogue but neither of the two shops in Newry have it in stock. Does anybody know of or can anyone reccomend other electrical/audio shops that sell mp3 players etc in Newry specifically?

Can't go any further north than Newry and prefer somewhere in the town centre (I know there's a Curry's but it looks like its a bit of a way out). Any help much appreciated!

There is a Curry's in Damoly business Park ( B & Q and McDonalds ) on the way into Newry.
Directions if you google B & Q newry.

kcools

V1llianous wrote: »

There is a Curry's in Damoly business Park ( B & Q and McDonalds ) on the way into Newry.
Directions if you google B & Q newry.

Difficult to tell distance from any of the maps I could find - is it walkable from the town centre or is their a bus do you know?

V1llianous

kcools wrote: »

Difficult to tell distance from any of the maps I could find - is it walkable from the town centre or is their a bus do you know?

Not sure about buses, think it would be about a 20 minute walk. If you google it again expand out the map and look for dominic quay (where the buttercrane centre is) that should give you an idea. Think it's only a 5 minute drive so sure a taxi could do too.

kcools

V1llianous wrote: »

Not sure about buses, think it would be about a 20 minute walk. If you google it again expand out the map and look for dominic quay (where the buttercrane centre is) that should give you an idea. Think it's only a 5 minute drive so sure a taxi could do too.

I'll take your guess-timate of a 20 minute walk! Thanks.

311

veryangryman wrote: »

No we wont. Anything we pay here is being reinvested poorly between government and businesses so as far as im concerned we cant make things any worse

You're on a different point there ,many of the businesses around south rely on christmas.
My point is based on wages to employees ,who inturn put the money back into goods etc ,etc.
* This thread is not a debate ,my post was only a 2c one.*

There is no new investment in ireland at the moment ,so any jobs that are gone won't jeanie themselves up somewhere else.

ChickenBalls

Are the shops open on Sunday in Belfast?

milltown

They don't open until 1pm afaik.
Heading up Sunday ourselves.

ChickenBalls

Yeah your right - just found it on the Belfast gov.uk page

I'll be dying of a hangover anyway so gives me plenty of time

milltown

Ditto mrs.Milltown. She has her xmas do tomorrow night so the bit of a lie on might save the carpets in the car!

dxhound2005

kcools wrote: »

I'm heading up to Newry tomorrow - need to get my daughter a new mp3/mp4 player. She had her eye on one out of the Argos catalogue but neither of the two shops in Newry have it in stock. Does anybody know of or can anyone reccomend other electrical/audio shops that sell mp3 players etc in Newry specifically?

Can't go any further north than Newry and prefer somewhere in the town centre (I know there's a Curry's but it looks like its a bit of a way out). Any help much appreciated!

It should be quicker to get there than to Argos if you are coming in from Dundalk. You take the Belfast road (2nd exit) at the roundabout at the top of the Newry hill and after a couple miles you get to the Damolly roundabout which is beside B & Q, Currys etc.

JohnOwonga

311 wrote: »

You're on a different point there ,many of the businesses around south rely on christmas.
My point is based on wages to employees ,who inturn put the money back into goods etc ,etc.
* This thread is not a debate ,my post was only a 2c one.*

There is no new investment in ireland at the moment ,so any jobs that are gone won't jeanie themselves up somewhere else.

>>>>
Ireland could always leave EU and devalue the currency .

John

311

I'm glad we have the euro and I'm glad that england kept sterling also.
It's just trying to keep a balance between the two is very hard at the moment ,hate to think that this would make things worse next year.

tregan

is there anyone on here from balbriggan who might be going north tomorrow and wouldnt mind picking up something very little for me in debenhams? please? it's only 100ml and it's not alcohol ! thanks in advance

tinytina

For those of us who are too far from border to manage one of these trips - does anyone know of any Northern Ireland based online wine retailers who will deliver to Republic? If so, would there be any VAT or import duty on wines coming into the country like that?
Ta

DublinWriter

kcools wrote: »

Difficult to tell distance from any of the maps I could find - is it walkable from the town centre or is their a bus do you know?

The Damolly centre is about 5 miles further north, not walkable at all.

You could try either Zavvi or HMV for the MP3 player - they're in the Quays and Buttercrane respectively.

DublinWriter

tinytina wrote: »

For those of us who are too far from border to manage one of these trips - does anyone know of any Northern Ireland based online wine retailers who will deliver to Republic? If so, would there be any VAT or import duty on wines coming into the country like that?
Ta

Scratch that idea - big difference when crossing EU borders in relation to importing vs. bringing the stuff over yourself personally for personal use - you'd be subject to ROI excise duty and vat when importing via a third party.

Dooish

Guru Maith Agut wrote: »

Not that you can do anything about it but for those about to go north over the next few days don't be surprised if you aren't quite getting what you should be for your exchange rate. Just got off the phone to Asda in Enniskillen there and they are only giving .87 pence per €1 yet the currency rate is at 94.4 and was at 95 yesterday. I'd sy they will try and hold off getting anywhere near the real target figure and they can make a few quid on all the extra bodies going their direction expecting a bargain. Hardly fair is it, but then life never is.

the euro rate changes each saturday morning for the following week. the reason for the big difference is that the sterling dropped big time against the euro mid week.

this weeks its 91.8 but if you want use the atm machine outside or CC to get a daily rate

gonker

well dont buy anything in arcadia stores ie dorothy perkins, evans, topshop etc in euro they are only giving .67 rate.

My daughter bought a dress the other day up there and if she had paid in euro it would have been dearer than paying in euro down here iykwim

highdef

Shopped in Sainbury's in Spucefield Park, Lisburn this evening. Now I wouldn't normally trek that far up but was in Belfast earlier on so it was on my way home so thought I'd give it a try.
First point is that it's a lot further from Newry than I had heard here. I have read posts from people saying it's 20 minutes up the road......my arse it is!!! On the way up, from the roundabout at the top of the hill in Newry to where I passed Lisburn on the way to Belfast took over an hour. There are major roadworks in several places along the dual carriageway and the old single carriageway road. I was travelling at around noon. Coming back at about 18:30/19:00, it took 39 minutes from Sprucefield to the roundabout in Newry. And that was with normal/light traffic and driving at around the posted speed limit almost all the way with no hold-ups at roadworks, etc. Thats over 90 mins round trip, however..........
The Sainsbury's in Sprucefiled was lovely. It was fairly quiet and it's HUGE!!!! A joy to shop in. They were offereing an excellent exchange rate when paying in Euros of 96.2 pence to the euro......almost parity!!!! Some excellent offers like ready meals 2 for 3 pound, 3 x 2 litre bottles of coke, Dr Pepper, etc for 3 pound. A full shop including a bottle of Southern Comfort and Vodka came to a little under 130 euro.....fan-bloody-tastic

thecons

Shops open at 1pm on Sundays, but might be different for the few weeks before Christmas. Went to Sainsburys Monday evening and picked up a Wii console with sports for €193. Went to Argos and got Wii Play with free remote for €35.00 - costs €60.00 here. Was still mental Monday evening even though people here are saying it's getting quieter.

Tipsy Mac

gonker wrote: »

well dont buy anything in arcadia stores ie dorothy perkins, evans, topshop etc in euro they are only giving .67 rate.

I wouldn't pi$$ on those Arcadia stores if they were ablaze after what the boss said about us Irish...."He can't read English. Mind you, he is a ****ing Irishman." http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2003/mar/05/2