250,000 households go to NI for shopping

egan007

New figures indicate that 250,000 households in the Republic are now crossing the border to Northern Ireland to do their shopping.

The figure is an increase of 50,000 on the number quoted by the research group TNS Worldpanel for last year.

Another survey by Nielsen Ireland suggests that off-licence sales in Northern Ireland are up 30% but are down 7% in the Republic.
Advertisement

Director of the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland Rosemary Garth has called on the Government to review excise duties on alcohol.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1027/shopping.html

False Economy.....

Idbatterim

I was up there yesterday! what a mistake! do not touch the place or a weekend or bank holiday! I cant stress this enough! it took me longer to get from the border to newry than south county dublin to the border! I was in Asda and Sainsburys, the best beer offers there at the moment are £10 for 15 cans of carlberg and similar... Got some work on the car done that was alot cheaper than Dublin would have been and a £1 car wash! Also was in the republics bargain alerts forum, the so called bargains down here are nothing compared to the north! bought a tv in xtravision, £350 for a sanyo full hd 32" tv that they want €480 for down here! Vat and Excise duties here have to be lowered, not only to compete with the north, but even for people who are just not spending here due to the high prices!

In_tuition

it took me longer to get from the border to newry than south county dublin to the border

Once you hit the A1 around Ravensdale take the several shortcut's there-after and the journey is a mere 15 mins regardless of whatever traffic lies in front of you.

dcr22B

Left Dublin at 7.30am and was parked back in the house at 10.30am, all 100% legal as well

tallaghtfornia

Left Tallaght yesterday @ 6.30am was in Sprucefeild @ 9.00am between myself the other half and my Mother we spent €600+, I reckon taking in tolls and having something to eat and petrol I still save myself €150 a mth plus I get served by staff who are helpful and want my business.

‘Iam now doing this once a month, as I can no longer afford not to, we take turns driving up each month so we spread the cost amongst my family

I think at this stage with so many manufacturing businesses closing up and big brand companies outsourcing they’re manufacturing to the UK and lower cost EU countries it makes no difference were we shop as our money is still going out of the country in one way or another.

By the way on my way home around 11.30 (With my car full ) the queue going into Newery was back as far as Dundalk

tallaghtfornia

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/tanaiste-pleads-with-shoppers-not-to-head-to-north-431895.html

aphex™

Well if you want to go up North to buy biscuits then fair play to you :pac:

busman

tallaghtfornia wrote: »

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/tanaiste-pleads-with-shoppers-not-to-head-to-north-431895.html

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has urged shoppers not to go north of the border for cheaper food and drink in the run up to Christmas.

Ms Coughlan was responding today to reports that a quarter of a million households are now shopping in the North.

She reminded shoppers that every euro spent in Ireland helps secure Irish jobs.

The Tánaiste says the Government will examine measures to make it cheaper to shop here in the upcoming Budget.

I thought that all we had to do to save Irish jobs was to vote yes to Lisbon!
We voted to be part of Europe so do we not have every right to buy anywhere in Europe?

Sounds like they want the cake and eat it!

omahaid

I'm confused, I was told to shop around http://www.rte.ie/business/2003/0710/tanaiste.html :D

old boy

was not lenihan b on about the same schite 12 months ago, the gov are screwing us, and they want us to stay and be screwed, it is ok for them to preach, with the massive salarys and expense accounts,it is impossible for me to take advantage of this, but i do not begrudge anyone who does

omahaid

IMO the big problem is drink. It is so cheap up north to stock up on booze. If booze was as cheap down here as it is up north I mightn't be bothered going up. The problem with that is the government can't be seen to encourage drinking, so their damned if they do and their damned if they don't.

In ASDA (up north)- 8 x 500ml Bulmers = €7.71
In Tesco (down south) - 8 x 500 ml Bulmers - €17

yop

Its not just drink. Toilet rolls, medicines, £1 for Lynx shower gels, 2.47 for litre bulmers

skywalker_208

yop wrote: »

Its not just drink. Toilet rolls, medicines, £1 for Lynx shower gels, 2.47 for litre bulmers

Mouthwash for half the price it is in South (€5+ down here isn't it?), £1 for pizzas, 30% less for new release xbox/ps3 games, bread, butter, beans...

the list is endless really

tmdsurvey

busman wrote: »

I thought that all we had to do to save Irish jobs was to vote yes to Lisbon!
We voted to be part of Europe so do we not have every right to buy anywhere in Europe?

Sounds like they want the cake and eat it!

Pay extortionate prices down here! Why? So Mary Coughlan can throw more money at people like Roddy Molloy! Shame on her making comment on anything at this stage. She should be shot

Washout

This government are slowly converting the mass middle class families to poor class. What the hell are we supposed do?

We are living in the open economy of the EU....so the government are being hypocrites.

I for one have not been shopping in the North but I have started logging How much we spend for groceries and toiletries I then want to compare prices to the north and see are the potential savings really worth it.

aphex™

Washout wrote: »

see are the potential savings really worth it.

Don't believe the hype. As for a weekly shop- it's only worth it if you drink an awful lot of alcohol.

dak

aphex™ wrote: »

Don't believe the hype. As for a weekly shop- it's only worth it if you drink an awful lot of alcohol.

If you want /can afford to buy a months worth of toiletries , dry goods etc I think its worth it ! You can easily save your petrol money without buying any alcohol !

aphex™

Toiletries? Just give up the 'quilted' bog roll for a while Switch to own brand- save on petrol and co2 emissions by not going over the border

You guys clearly spend a lot more on bog roll then I do. It's up to the individual but the reality is everybody mentions drink when radio/newspapers interview punters up north. Maybe they'd be better off saving the money by skipping along to their local AA meeting.

pebbles21

When it boils down to it, everything in this country revolves around drink ,one way or another,and the big retailers up north know this and use it as their carrot on their stick !

omahaid

Have to disagree on the savings on just drink. We went up recently, made out a spreadsheet of shopping (divided into drink and non-drink ). €370 up north in asda, same products in tesco €700. €330 savings. That was just on non-drink items.

aphex™

omahaid wrote: »

Have to disagree on the savings on just drink. We went up recently, made out a spreadsheet of shopping (divided into drink and non-drink ). €370 up north in asda, same products in tesco €700. €330 savings. That was just on non-drink items.

If ya have the spreadsheet, could you post it here?

DublinWriter

aphex™ wrote: »

Don't believe the hype. As for a weekly shop- it's only worth it if you drink an awful lot of alcohol.

You don't have kids then, I take it.

Stuff like SMA, nappies, kids clothes etc is almost half the price up there.

Electrical goods are cheaper, cigs are cheaper, household goods are cheaper.

The general rule I've found is that *all* non-perishable goods are cheaper up there.

omahaid

aphex™ wrote: »

If ya have the spreadsheet, could you post it here?

Let me have a root around, was a few months ago

omahaid

Here we go, its not the one I quoted above (dunno where I put it ). This one compares what we paid in Asda (€247) versus what we would have paid in Tesco (€393). This is a difference of €146. I accept that Tesco deals very from time to time so this figure might be different now. I think the exchange rate we paid at the time is about the same now (might be slightly different, dont think it is significantly so).

kleefarr

omahaid wrote: »

Let me have a root around, was a few months ago

Someone posted a spread sheet in the 'Shopping in Northern Ireland' thread a while ago and I mean about a year ago. Not sure if it was you.

omahaid

kleefarr wrote: »

Someone posted a spread sheet in the 'Shopping in Northern Ireland' thread a while ago and I mean about a year ago. Not sure if it was you.

Not me but I remember the one. Edit: here is the post http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=57717243&postcount=175

dak

omahaid wrote: »

Here we go, its not the one I quoted above (dunno where I put it ). This one compares what we paid in Asda (€247) versus what we would have paid in Tesco (€393). This is a difference of €146. I accept that Tesco deals very from time to time so this figure might be different now. I think the exchange rate we paid at the time is about the same now (might be slightly different, dont think it is significantly so).

Rate in your spreadsheet is 83p. Replacing it with todays rate you would have saved €164 euro . You biggest savings were on !

Biscuits Light bulbs Razors Niquitin Selection box Pringles Coffee Antacid Always Coke cans Shower gel Cards Nuts Hula hoops Wash and go Carefree Whiskas Light bulb Paracetemol Mitchum deoderant Body spray Toothbrush

Add a few bottles of wine and your laughing!

omahaid

dak wrote: »

Add a few bottles of wine and your laughing!

I added more than a few I have a separate spreadsheet for that, the savings were even better!!

dak

aphex™ wrote: »

Toiletries? Just give up the 'quilted' bog roll for a while Switch to own brand- save on petrol and co2 emissions by not going over the border

You guys clearly spend a lot more on bog roll then I do. It's up to the individual but the reality is everybody mentions drink when radio/newspapers interview punters up north. Maybe they'd be better off saving the money by skipping along to their local AA meeting.

I meant shampoos , shower gel , shaving cream, razors , sure etc

eurojedward

The OH and I saved a fortune on nappies by buying in bulk up there.

Dickerty

We are past the SMA and nappies stage, never needed the Northern bargains for that, but we will defo be getting the bigger Christmas presents and drink/goodies up there.

Will also be going to Banbridge outlet to fill out the wardrobe a little - work shirts, maybe a suit, coat, sportswear.

Like everyone else here, I can't afford not to. One salary into a house and two kids = no room for manouver.

tmdsurvey

Put simply, the majority of people are speaking with their feet and going north to shop. It is cheaper. People would shop in the republic if it was cheaper than the north. So until it is, they will continue to shop in the north. Retailers in the republic need to cut their prices further, the onus is on them not the consumer.

Dickerty

What they need is a UK recovery and GBP back to 80p, which could easily happen as we will take far longer to pick up. But who knows what the BOE and EBA will do on rates, not likely to have the same path...