Rep. of Ireland or Northern Ireland for YOUR Christmas Shopping?

PeteK*

Which part of the country are you planning on doing your Xmas shopping?

collegemum

I have already been north and have gotten a good bit of christmas shopping. When you compare some of the prices you can fully understand why.
Here is an example:
A childs dress from Monsoon on the label - £47....€75 :eek: Monsoon were accepting Euro at a rate of €1 = £.95
A childs dress from Debenhams on the label - £37.....€57:(
Childs shoes from Debenhams - £13....€22.50

That is just 3 items out of the many i bought........ so i guess you can imagie i saved an absolute fortune not to mention the fact that 3 of us went up and filled the car to the brim......we must have saved close to €500 if not more between us. All for the sake of €20 petrol and a 1 hour drive.

Sure it took me 2 hours to get home from the RDS yesterday ......i couldve been to Newry and back

Skopzz

PeteK* wrote: »

Which part of the country are you planning on doing your Xmas shopping?

What do you mean by the 'south'? No such country

Skopzz

I will be doing my entire xmas shopping in Enniskillen and Dungannon. Prices for groceries are very high down here

I want to save money and shop around. That way, retailers down here will feel the pressure and drop their high prices

shamblertine

Skopzz wrote: »

I will be doing my entire xmas shopping in Enniskillen and Dungannon. Prices for groceries are very high down here

I want to save money and shop around. That way, retailers down here will feel the pressure and drop their high prices

Why go to Dungannon? Its useless for shopping, Omagh is much better.

shamblertine

Skopzz wrote: »

What do you mean by the 'south'? No such country

The OP doesn't recognise the illegal occupation of Northern Ireland by the British

Cicero

For Presents, it will be the South this year - vouchers, small gifts etc as I do feel that I should support local retailers in some way (I already do my weekly shop down here anyway so it's not like I'm not contributing anything to this economy)
...saying that, no way i'm paying ROI booze prices so all that money is going North for wine/spirits etc.

I think the Kilkenny Cat is a stroke of Genius- hope it works out for them http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=2055739827

Up north for me again this Xmas, I go up north every week and make big savings, I'd be stupid not to go.

PCPhoto

wheres the option in the poll for online shopping - some of us feckers are too damn busy/lazy to travel to the shops for a bargain (click...click... 2 grand saved compared to local prices...woo hoo !)

Cicero

collegemum wrote: »

I have already been north and have gotten a good bit of christmas shopping. When you compare some of the prices you can fully understand why.
Here is an example:
A childs dress from Monsoon on the label - £47....€75 :eek: Monsoon were accepting Euro at a rate of €1 = £.95
A childs dress from Debenhams on the label - £37.....€57:(
Childs shoes from Debenhams - £13....€22.50

That is just 3 items out of the many i bought........ so i guess you can imagie i saved an absolute fortune not to mention the fact that 3 of us went up and filled the car to the brim......we must have saved close to €500 if not more between us. All for the sake of €20 petrol and a 1 hour drive.

Sure it took me 2 hours to get home from the RDS yesterday ......i couldve been to Newry and back

Can't blame you..I'm limiting the type of present shopping I'm doing this year to things like vouchers coupled with books/small gifts, to give the economy a chance but if I had to buy those type of items, I'm afraid I'd be up there with you as it's a no-brainer:o

Cicero

PeteK* wrote: »

Which part of the country are you planning on doing your Xmas shopping?

Can we have a 'both' in the survey...please please,,,can we can we???

Ann22

A mixture of both really. I looked in Debenhams for a party dress. Dresses around £60 were marked up to around €90. They give you a voucher for a tenner with every 50 spent too. I couldn't find anything I liked anyway so I ended up buying one for €25 in Dunnes in the republic.
I shop in Newry most weeks but do a small shop here every few weeks. I can throw loads of stuff in the trolley down there whereas when I'm home I have to nearly count what I'm buying..eg 7 different main meats for dinners or the little drinks for my son's lunches at school. £1.80 for 4 Fruices in Sainsburys, down here it's €2.99. Everything is cheaper down there. I bought something recently, I won't say what in case my oh reads this and it's part of his Xmas present. It was €25(I paid €27) in the Quays, here it would've cost me €94..It was on special down there though but still, huge saving.
I always do a fair bit of shopping in Boots here in town I have to say, the buy two get 3rd free is brilliant...and I have a club card so the points add up so I can treat myself to nice girly things:).

thebiglad

PCPhoto wrote: »

wheres the option in the poll for online shopping - some of us feckers are too damn busy/lazy to travel to the shops for a bargain (click...click... 2 grand saved compared to local prices...woo hoo !)

+1

Present shopping 90% complete via internet already

PeteK*

Skopzz wrote: »

What do you mean by the 'south'? No such country

I meant South of the Border.

Cicero wrote: »

Can we have a 'both' in the survey...please please,,,can we can we???

Pick where you'll do the majority?

lindtee

Agree with pcphoto and thebiglad, I've done pretty much all my Christmas shopping online (with the exception of a bargain laptop from pc world) The last few bits that i have to buy will be bought online also.

Why would I travel north when with a few clicks or some savvy bargain hunting in bricks and mortor shops I'm saving loads anyway

I've said before and I'll say it again, good value can be found in the republic. You just got to look.

efb

Amazon.co.uk via Cork with 21.5% VAT to pay the SW and PS Wage bill.

admiralofthefleet

ill get my drink up there but shop down here for everything else

soc

I'm not going to shop in the South... and can't be bothered to fight with the crowds in NI.

So, OH & I have decided to do our shopping online

There's quite a few online stores that offer goods at cheap prices, plus shipping at reasonable price.

With the over-inflated prices charged in Irish shops, there's no way I will bother my back-side to buy any goodies from an Irish shop.

MarysCross

I really like shopping in Newry it has everything I want shopping, restaurants and even a decent night out but the traffic is soo off putting.

I prefer (usually) to travel onto Armagh and Markethill. Parking, same shops really and no super market dodgems with everyone else!

Ally Dick

Why go to Newry ? Take a boat to Galway or Cork instead and buy up all the flood damaged stock

mcaul

collegemum wrote: »

I have already been north and have gotten a good bit of christmas shopping. When you compare some of the prices you can fully understand why.
Here is an example:
A childs dress from Monsoon on the label - £47....€75 :eek: Monsoon were accepting Euro at a rate of €1 = £.95
A childs dress from Debenhams on the label - £37.....€57:(
Childs shoes from Debenhams - £13....€22.50

Complaining about prices charged by UK retailers and then you go up north and hand your cash to the exact same retailers!!:eek:

Here's how UK multiples do their pricing. - They sit in a big office block in London, they take the UK retail price and multiply it by a rate of exchange that leaves no chance of loss.

Here's how an Irish owned business does their pricing - take landed cost of product (using REAL exchange rates) add retail margin, add vat. = Retail price and in most crcumstances 20% below UK multiples.

Check your local IRISH OWNED retailer - you'll be surprised at how similar the prices are to the UK and certainly not at a 1.60 exchange rate like certain UK multiples. But to say rip off Ireland and give UK multiples as an example is a farce!

A previous example I gave - halford 21" bosch wiper blades €15.49. Local IRISH owned motor factors €8.50 - same brand, same blade!

MarysCross

I largely agree on this point but the independent supermarket is a dieing breed unfortunately. You'll probably see Morrisons or the likes buying one of the Irish supermarkets in the next few years as well.

I would say though that the best value in the North is from non grocery independents anyway, besides that you actually get some customer service and appreciation for your custom.

Skopzz

mcaul wrote: »

Complaining about prices charged by UK retailers and then you go up north and hand your cash to the exact same retailers!!:eek:

Here's how UK multiples do their pricing. - They sit in a big office block in London, they take the UK retail price and multiply it by a rate of exchange that leaves no chance of loss.

Here's how an Irish owned business does their pricing - take landed cost of product (using REAL exchange rates) add retail margin, add vat. = Retail price and in most crcumstances 20% below UK multiples.

Check your local IRISH OWNED retailer - you'll be surprised at how similar the prices are to the UK and certainly not at a 1.60 exchange rate like certain UK multiples. But to say rip off Ireland and give UK multiples as an example is a farce!

A previous example I gave - halford 21" bosch wiper blades €15.49. Local IRISH owned motor factors €8.50 - same brand, same blade!

The irish retail margin is too high.

The retailers need to reduce their prices to single digit margins. If this happens, they will sell more items in the long term and make better profits from this. Otherwise, continue charging well into the double margins (driving customers away to the north for their grocery shopping) and experience the consequences.

mikemac

Don't own a car, don't live close to the border so most of my shopping will be done online

herya

Here in Dublin and some online. We don't overeat for Christmas, buy reasonable presents and can't be bothered to travel anywhere for this. A couple of drinks from an off-licence or some pints in a pub and we're sorted.

TheInquisitor

Skopzz wrote: »

The irish retail margin is too high.

The retailers need to reduce their prices to single digit margins. If this happens, they will sell more items in the long term and make better profits from this. Otherwise, continue charging well into the double margins (driving customers away to the north for their grocery shopping) and experience the consequences.

Single digit margins?? Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a business? Rent, Rates, Wages, Normal bills, VAT, Taxes!!!?

Woolworths in the UK went bust operating on a 33% margin. Your honestly saying if they dropped their margin to 9% that their sales would have increased 350%-400%?

Skopzz

TheInquisitor wrote: »

Single digit margins?? Do you have any idea how much it costs to run a business? Rent, Rates, Wages, Normal bills, VAT, Taxes!!!?

Woolworths in the UK went bust operating on a 33% margin. Your honestly saying if they dropped their margin to 9% that their sales would have increased 350%-400%?

Thats right, single digit margins... Lower prices encourage more spending, higher prices don't.

Consumer demand increases when prices are lowered. Once this happens, you focus on sustaining that capacity level. You order in more stock and the more that sells, the more you profit.

Price inflation is to be avoided unless you want more people doing their christmas and grocery shopping in the north.

mcaul

Skopzz wrote: »

Thats right, single digit margins... Lower prices encourage more spending, higher prices don't.

Consumer demand increases when prices are lowered. Once this happens, you focus on sustaining that capacity level. You order in more stock and the more that sells, the more you profit.

Price inflation is to be avoided unless you want more people doing their christmas and grocery shopping in the north.

no retailer in the world works on single digit margins before costs.

however most retailers work on achieving 6% - 7% net margin after costs. Currently i doubt if any independent retailer in Ireland is achieving anything like this. - I know I'll be happy to break even this year after getting substantial rent reductions, cutting my salary to what i need for mortgage & food, and by watching every variable cost possible.

But I know that next year or the year after I'll be back to a reasonable income and hopefully back making a 5% profit.

And my prices like many other INDEPENDENT irish retailers can be compared very favourably with any UK store.

mcaul

mcaul wrote: »

And my prices like many other INDEPENDENT irish retailers can be compared very favourably with any UK store.

Examples ?

Skopzz

mcaul wrote: »

But I know that next year or the year after I'll be back to a reasonable income and hopefully back making a 5% profit.

You don't get it, do you? Consumers spending habits are changing FOREVER.... Plus the added benefit of cross border shopping to save more money.

You seem to have the perception that 'I'll put up me prices again' - WRONG ANSWER. It will have the opposite effect, I guarantee you.

gaz wac

All South for me, couldnt be bothered to go North and dont trust this interweb stuff , anyway, no recession in our house, best year of my life as reguards to out goings !!

mcaul

hellboy99 wrote: »

Examples ?

under rules I cannot advertise my business, but feel free to check the websites in the sigs.

mcaul

Skopzz wrote: »

You don't get it, do you? Consumers spending habits are changing FOREVER.... Plus the added benefit of cross border shopping to save more money.

You seem to have the perception that 'I'll put up me prices again' - WRONG ANSWER. It will have the opposite effect, I guarantee you.

I certainly won't be putting up prices. My earnings & profits will come from increased business as people spend more and realise that some stores offer excellent value.

Already my greeting card business is up almost 50% this year as I moved to a new pricing model of €2 per card - any card including designer collections. A certain UK multiple charges between €2.50 - €4.95 for the same cards less than a mile from my store. - More custoemrs are coming in and I'm benifitting from increased turnover and will probably break even this year, which I see as excellent performance in the current market.

kippy

-Living in Galway.
-Dont actually need that much stuff, and am sure would probably spend more money in the north because of the perceived "good deals". Stuff that I didnt really want or need.
-Dont fancy the 4-6 hour round trip up north and the costs that entails.
-Theres plenty good deals around town at the minute.
-The internet is close at hand if there isnt.


The whole Northern thing makes sense if you live near enough the border or you have a major amount of shopping to do, otherwise I think people lose the run of themselves.

mcaul

mcaul wrote: »

under rules I cannot advertise my business, but feel free to check the websites in the sigs.

Not bad, a lot of the board games though are cheaper in Smyths, one example:

Family Fortunes Electronic - your price: €36.95 + €3.50 delivery, only €18.99 in Smyths.

mcaul

hellboy99 wrote: »

Not bad, a lot of the board games though are cheaper in Smyths, one example:

Family Fortunes Electronic - your price: €36.95 + €3.50 delivery, only €18.99 in Smyths.

seems they have it on a half price offer - must have words wth the suppliers and see what they can do as the margin on games is utter Cr*p!

netwhizkid

I will be up North on the weekend of Dec 12 & 13th and will travel up from Kerry for the Christmas shopping. I at least get the satisfaction of not giving the VAT to the criminals in Dail Eireann, the British have more legitimacy in Northern Ireland than Fianna Fail have here.

Davidth88

Went up North on Monday ( missed the Tuesday rush thank goodness )

Saved a fortune.

Saved the tolls and petrol money on 2 gifts alone ( not expensive ones ) . The prices on the toys were working out about 20-25% cheaper , we paid in euros directly so we could compare prices. Some shops were giving as much as 92p per euro , some ( M&S was the worst ) were as poor as 86p

We are lucky we only live approx 1hr away ( or 1.5 from Sprucefield ) .

SJWicklow

Will be trying to do all my Christmas shopping down here. Need to try and keep some of the money in this country then spending it abroad.

Read this last night about getting better value on your Christmas shopping, worth a read - http://bit.ly/8Jg6ow

baubl

I will be staying here in the south, simply i have been laid off 6 months ago, will cut down on cards this Christmas, will be buying little or no presents, it will be needs must, I will shop at the local aldi for everything.
as will alot of people in my position, just trying to keep our heads above water, it is hard. but not half as hard as the guy who also lost his job, and then got his or her home ruined in the floods, wondering where to start without proper income, must feel like the bottom fell out of their world

adamkane

I'm writing an article about people shopping in the north for Christmas. Anyone willing to talk to me about it?

wantolose

We went to Enniskillen this morning. It took 45mins to park the car in Asda carpark, it was chaos:eek:, we headed towards the shop and there was no trollies not one:(, so we went into and one co not move it was packed. You would swear there was a famine, the shop was just mental packed, the trollies were pushing off each other and the shelves were almost empty, people were like savages pulling the stuff of the shelves, it was like pigs with their snouts in the trough. We decided to leave and as we were leaving Asda we noticed the amount of booze people were buying (I ike an odd tipple myself), but this was just disgusting it was mainly drink.
Childern were stuffed into trollies and bawling crying, I know some people might not have a babysitter, but Godsakes if its only for boooooooooooooooze your going shopping ,surely it could wait or leave the kids with somebody, the poor wee things

Anyway we went to tesco and dunnes instead and it was much easier to get around both of these shops. I bought nappies, wipes and baby milk.

Such a day....I think i will be shopping local, I would be in no hurry back!

baubl

who really want that kind of hassle, for a few drinks, food or toiloteries, in a car all day in heavy traffic just to save what, on non essentials like booze, madness, I will be shopping in the local aldi for everything

RiverWilde

Off to Enniskillen in a few hours - for the Christmas shopping. I resent buying anything here in the south, not just because of the prices but because the shower of idiots in Dublin will only waste my tax money on junkets, bonuses and other non-essential expenditure. When the govt. starts spending money where it should be spent - health, welfare, education, housing - I'll consider paying vat down here again.

Riv

TheCandystripes

i assume the scenes of materialistic irish scurrying to get as much drink as possible shows just what a ****ed up country this is

furiousox

Our main reason to go up was to do our christmas toy shopping (smyths newry) and we saved over 150 euro compared to southern prices.
Debenhams is also well worth a look.

Also bought some groceries in Sainsburys plus about 6 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of spirits, but the amount of drink being bought by "southerners" was nuts, crate after crate of beer and/or cider, really OTT.

rubadub

wantolose wrote: »

We went to Enniskillen this morning. It took 45mins to park the car in Asda carpark, it was chaos:eek:,

Thank god some people are telling the real truth and giving fair warning. I expect many are keeping quiet about such tales rather than admit their idea was not so great. The amount of times you see this "ah sure its just an hour up the road", you could be working overtime with far less stress could earn more money than they would save.

RiverWilde wrote: »

I resent buying anything here in the south...- I'll consider paying vat down here again.

Biting off your nose to spite your face springs to mind. If something was the same price you would buy it here? I would hope so since they are obviously going to have to increase the other unavoidable taxes if so many people continue to avoid the likes of VAT here.

furiousox wrote: »

Our main reason to go up was to do our christmas toy shopping (smyths newry) and we saved over 150 euro compared to southern prices.

Just work it out and research. I got a PS3 for €250 in powercity today, not even an advertised offer. I got 88p/€ on my CC last week, same console is £250 in smyths which would have been €284, http://www.smythstoys.com/playstation-3/ps3-slim-console-g11890pd.aspx?qwSessionID=5018809f-c99b-45ea-ae16-72a777a70cfb

wantolose

I still thinking about all that drink yesterday.................it was crazy:eek:.

How on earth do people need to buy that much drink? I was telling my brother about it when I picked up my litle one from my mothers. He told me he was up there a few weeks ago to buy a laptop and he went to Asda, he was going to get a few bits but it was chaos during the week also.
Anyway when he was leaving Asda he bumped into a local publican.......and they had their trolly full of booze, mainy spirits... now I am not saying they were going to recyle this across the counter and charge for it....but it would make you wonder....oh I am sure it was for their own private use:rolleyes:

RiverWilde

rubadub wrote: »

Biting off your nose to spite your face springs to mind. If something was the same price you would buy it here? I would hope so since they are obviously going to have to increase the other unavoidable taxes if so many people continue to avoid the likes of VAT here.

Biting off my nose to spite my face? No. It's my job to support my family by finding the best grocery and other deals available. It's isn't my job to fix the economy which has been ruined by greed. If retailers find the journey down the costs ladder more difficult than they found the journey up - NOT MY PROBLEM!

This is the EU we're living in ... merchants wanted into it big time so they could sell their stuff ... we're all EU citizens and are entitled to spend our money wherever we bloody well like within the Union.

The same merchant classes, coupled with the church and other interests wanted out of the UK and now 80 odd years later, FF have run the country into the ground. The only option for many people is to do their shopping in the North. Being ripped off for Ireland is not the message I'm going to give my children this Christmas.

Riv

PeteK*

rubadub wrote: »

Just work it out and research. I got a PS3 for €250 in powercity today, not even an advertised offer. I got 88p/€ on my CC last week, same console is £250 in smyths which would have been €284, http://www.smythstoys.com/playstation-3/ps3-slim-console-g11890pdaspx?qwSessionID=5018809f-c99b-45ea-ae16-72a777a70cfb

I actually think PS3 consoles are mainly cheaper in the South. My cousin got one a few months ago in Newry and saw it far cheaper in Dundalk on his way home. He went and got a refund.. no idea how.. and then bought it in Dundalk.

PeteK*

PeteK* wrote: »

I actually think PS3 consoles are mainly cheaper in the South. My cousin got one a few months ago in Newry and saw it far cheaper in Dundalk on his way home. He went and got a refund.. no idea how.. and then bought it in Dundalk.

Myself and a mate went to Newry last week for a look around comparing prices and we were shocked, a lot of console deals at the minute are near the same or cheaper down here as are a lot of games, example:

Lego Star Wars - The Complete Saga (PS3)

Smyths (north): £24.99
Smyths (south): €34.99
HMV (north): £19.99
HMV (south): €15.99

Wii deal in Smyths last week was €199 here and £169 up north, not really worth a trip up north if your just going to buy that and nothing else.

A word of warning to anyone going to Debenhams, I suggest you look round before deciding to purchase any toys from them, the prices of some of the stuff was unreal, most of the toys are cheaper down here in the south. They had a transformer toy, Optimus Prime (the big movie leader class):

Debenhams (north): £45.99 (ROI price on it €70, some exchange rate :rolleyes:)
Smyths (north): £33.74
Smyths (south): €41.24
Tesco (south): €24.99

A lot of toys in Smyths stores both north and south, when comparing prices there are differences of only €1 - €4 with a lot of their toys.

Grocery shopping in Asda and Iceland is cheaper to here, if you don't shop there and decide to go to Dunnes and Sainsburys instead I would suggest you check out the prices here in the south as we found that there wasn't much of a big difference in the prices of a lot of items.