Are clothes cheaper in N.Ireland?

Yorky

Are clothes generally better value in Northern Ireland than the Republic? Has the strength of sterling against the euro made much difference?

I'm looking for men's clothes but probably the same rule applies

Also, considering the economic situation, would clothes be significantly cheaper in January than this time of year or are the "sales" always on?

maximoose

Yup. Just look at the tags in shops like Topman, River Island etc.. the tags show the IRL Price and UK sterling price, and the IRL price is always higher than the converted sterling price.

compsys

maximoose wrote: »

Yup. Just look at the tags in shops like Topman, River Island etc.. the tags show the IRL Price and UK sterling price, and the IRL price is always higher than the converted sterling price.

For British stores the prices are generally cheaper.

However, the price difference really has come down over the past few years. Also, some stores such as Zara (and its sister stores such as Bershka and Pull n Bear etc) are actually more expensive in general in the UK than in Ireland. However, Zara and its sister stores don't display sterling prices in Irish shops so this isn't as obvious.

Also, H&M for example, is only slightly more expensive in Dublin now. For example, I bought a pair of trousers there yesterday for €24.95 that were £19.99. That's an exchange rate of over .80 cent to the euro which is fairly good.

As I always say, if you're going to spend €50 on petrol going up and down to Belfast and spend an entire day up there the savings may not be as great as you might think.

Tayla

You're better off buying online, *most* sites allow you to pay in sterling.

lainey316

As the other posters have said, it depends on the store. M&S, Topshop, Monsoon (ok, not menswear) are all significantly cheaper in sterling, as are Aldo and Office for shoes. If you're looking for decent suits and the likes, I do find House of Fraser also have a crappy exchange rate. I think Debenhams is a bit unfair as well, but I don't shop there so not certain.

DublinWriter

The difference in price between Next Newry and Next Drogheda is a joke.

The rule of thumb is - when in doubt, head up North.

Also, there are some fantastic shops if you want to go a wee bit further than Newry. The Outlet in Banbridge has some exceptional bargains in the Nike Outlet shop, Cotton Traders and there will be a Next factory shop opening there in 2012.

maximoose

Was looking at a jacket in H&M today, £39 or €69

Bloody joke, I'll wait til I'm in Belfast at the weekend!

FueledByAisling

compsys wrote: »

For British stores the prices are generally cheaper.

However, the price difference really has come down over the past few years. Also, some stores such as Zara (and its sister stores such as Bershka and Pull n Bear etc) are actually more expensive in general in the UK than in Ireland. However, Zara and its sister stores don't display sterling prices in Irish shops so this isn't as obvious.

Also, H&M for example, is only slightly more expensive in Dublin now. For example, I bought a pair of trousers there yesterday for €24.95 that were £19.99. That's an exchange rate of over .80 cent to the euro which is fairly good.

As I always say, if you're going to spend €50 on petrol going up and down to Belfast and spend an entire day up there the savings may not be as great as you might think.

Actually from my experience H&M are normally the best shop for price conversions. Payed 8 pounds for a top in London was only 6 here, when you look at the price tags they aren't that far off. However if you notice in recent months Topshop/Topman have removed the Sterling price tag and have replaced it with the dollar pricing. I'm assuming this is due to many complaints to their garments being priced €30 more when converted into Euro from pounds

compsys

FueledByAisling wrote: »

Actually from my experience H&M are normally the best shop for price conversions. Payed 8 pounds for a top in London was only 6 here, when you look at the price tags they aren't that far off. However if you notice in recent months Topshop/Topman have removed the Sterling price tag and have replaced it with the dollar pricing. I'm assuming this is due to many complaints to their garments being priced €30 more when converted into Euro from pounds

Yes, as with most British stores, Topshop/Man have removed the sterling price tag.

However, if you look at the dollar price on their clothes AND consider that the dollar price doesn't include the American sales tax that will be added on at the till, the Irish price is always cheaper.

I'm always amazed how obsessed people in Ireland get about prices in relation to only Britain. You'd swear we wanted to be a part of the Union again.

Clothing in Ireland is actually very competitively priced. According to CSO and Eurostat figures, clothing and electrical 'white' goods are the only two things that are actually lower in price in Ireland than the EU average. Those are the facts. The price of clothing may not be lower than the UK, but it's lower than many other EU countries.

Also, people need to remember that in general, a company's prices will usually be lowest in its home country. It kind of makes sense that British clothing companies charge British people lower prices than elsewhere. For example, Zara's clothing prices are cheapest in Spain and most of the American clothing companies' prices are cheapest in America.

Incidentally, when I've been travelling, I've always found the prices of clothes from Zara, Topshop/Man and H&M to be more expensive elsewhere than Ireland (apart from the UK of course where there's immense competition on the High Street).

Anyway, my point is that Irish people need to realise that we're not always being ripped off and that just because something is more expensive here than the UK doesn't mean we're not getting an OK deal.

I remember going to Zara in Brazil and seeing a pair of jeans that cost the equivalent of €60 there but was €45 in Ireland. When you consider the lower wages and cost of living in Brazil the Irish price seemed like a bargain!

uli84

totally agree, with the above post. Same goes for Poland where prices are the same as in Ireland, if not higher, in high street shops (with salaries 4 times lower)