Cross-Border Shopping

Famous45

No doubt there is another thread but I don't see an updated one.

I went for the 1st time shopping in Newry last weekend and we saved €60.

The rate at the time was .93 although Sainsbury's only gave us .89

But nonetheless we priced everything we bought there with the same prices here and saved €60 on a €105 shop.

Anyone who shops within the Republic needs there heads tested. Long live the strength of the euro.

Can anyone recommend any other supermarkets close to the border?

DonJose

Here you go, there are currently 153 pages, you'll probably finish reading it by March

Shopping in Northern Ireland
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055394288

Ludo

Famous45 wrote: »

Anyone who shops within the Republic needs there heads tested. Long live the strength of the euro.

Really? So you are saying everyone who lives in Cork and Kerry for example needs their heads examined (no smart comments from the dubs please ) ? Talk about a generalisation. Not everyone lives within an hour of the border you know.

What about the extra time to get to/from shops on the North? Is it worth it to drive 2 hours each way from south of Kildare for example just to do that amount of shopping? How much did you spend on petrol?

Famous45

You are indeed right Ludo, I failed to see the wider picture.

I should have said I was talking from my own persepective of my area, which is the North-East. I travelled from outside of Drogheda which is only 35 mins to Newry so I guess I should have re-worded my argument better.

The petrol expense would be nothing to be honest, I was, for the previous 6 months, travelling to Dublin to shop in Tesco in Finglas prior to the one in Drogheda opening recently.

The price different is so extreme, every single item we purchased was practially half to 1/3 of the price here. Hair cream I use for example is €6.15 here and only €3.75 in Newry, Bagels here are €2.20 for 1, down there it's €1.35 for 2 of the same bagel packet. My girl's hair stuff is €9.50 here down there it was €5. I could go on and on, on every single item we bought.

Whether you should travel 2 hours to and return, I'd say definitely, especially twice a month. I'd safely say you'll get your second shop free with petrol price included compared to you doing your shopping in the Republic.

Sorry for taking this thread up again, I'll refer to the other in future.

Nody

Ludo wrote: »

Really? So you are saying everyone who lives in Cork and Kerry for example needs their heads examined (no smart comments from the dubs please ) ? Talk about a generalisation. Not everyone lives within an hour of the border you know.

What about the extra time to get to/from shops on the North? Is it worth it to drive 2 hours each way from south of Kildare for example just to do that amount of shopping? How much did you spend on petrol?

Well there was a Corkie who posted who started out at 2am and came back around 6pm doing shopping in the North. Of course they did a month's worth of shopping and saved accordingly (I think the number I saw was around 1.000 Euro but that is from memory). Not bad savings for one days work after all.

rubadub

Ludo wrote: »

What about the extra time to get to/from shops on the North? Is it worth it to drive 2 hours each way from south of Kildare for example just to do that amount of shopping? How much did you spend on petrol?

Exactly, how much are people paid per hour? is it really worth the extra time. €60 seems very little, most save a lot more.

Also I have heard people in work go up and buy these brands that they would never buy down here, brands which are overly expensive in the Republic, yet happen to be cheap in the UK. Then they come back down and check out the price here and come up with a "saving" which is not realistic. e.g. they would usually buy whatever beer is €1 in tesco here, yet go up north and get some odd beer cheap for €0.70 which is never on offer here, so €2.70 down here, then they reckon they saved €2 on each bottle.

It can be a false economy, don't fool yourself, work it out realistically.

It is like all these endless threads where people buy and item up north and then scour every shop in dublin to find the most expensive price they can, and then post it up claiming everything is a ripoff here.

Guy:Incognito

Nody wrote: »

Well there was a Corkie who posted who started out at 2am and came back around 6pm doing shopping in the North. Of course they did a month's worth of shopping and saved accordingly (I think the number I saw was around 1.000 Euro but that is from memory). Not bad savings for one days work after all.

I'd find it hard to spend 1,000 on shopping for a month here (taking a month to be 4 weeks) so unless they are givign away food for free or that guy buys ridiculous amounts of crap, thats not realisitic.

Famous45

€60 might seem very little to you, but it's a whole lot to me to be saving every other week. I'll be getting prob 2 weeks shopping free compared to what I spend in this country over the last year.

I bought the exact same brands in Newry as I would here, in fact I bought better brands if you like cause they were more affordable.

€60 savings in my pocket compared to €60 thrown away. I will be going again this week with hopefully a €60 shop, I'd imagine pre-shop that I will save bout €30, considering the cost of petrol being about €10, it's better in my pocket than a store in Drogheda.

I can't understand your argument that we aren't seeing above the line, the savings are there to be seen, now whether access is to the North is out of reach for you and you are being bitter, could be an explanation and if not I'm sorry, but this was my first week and the different is so extreme its frightening, I've witnessed 1st hand the price difference a mere 35 minutes away.

Famous45

My partner and I, it's just the 2 of us, where spending €180 probably twice a month in Dunnes/Tesco's. Last week we spend €110, this week I expect to spend €60 and perhaps the same amount the following week if even that much. That a saving of €150 already. That's my Sky, Eircom and possibly some part of my Electricity bill paid off for the month and extra money in my pocket from the above. I seriously cannot believe how much I have been ripped off back in the country. I lived away in the UK and US for 10 years and the prices there are nothing like here.

In future I'm going to dine out in Northern Ireland, I'm going to take my weekend getaway in Northern Ireland aswell as the cinema which I visit on a regular basis, the Republic needs to address these chaotic price issue fast.