Is there a big grocery retailer in Dublin area?

Panline

Hi,

I was wondering if there are huge grocery retailer shops near Dublin that offer more diversity than the ones I located in the city center. I've been grocery-shopping at the Dunnes of Rathmines but their food offer is actually quite repetitive after a while. (For french speaker: je cherche une grande surface type Cora ou Carrefour, un magasin de cette taille).

Many thanks,

Pauline

Speedsie

Panline wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if there are huge grocery retailer shops near Dublin that offer more diversity than the ones I located in the city center. I've been grocery-shopping at the Dunnes of Rathmines but their food offer is actually quite repetitive after a while. (For french speaker: je cherche une grande surface type Cora ou Carrefour, un magasin de cette taille).

Many thanks,

Pauline

Would love Carrefour here - have you tried Superquinn in Ranelagh or Rathgar? Liston's on Camden Street? Fallon & Byrne?

While they are not large shops like Carrefour, they may provide a small amount of variety to Dunnes in Rathmines.

K.Flyer

Panline wrote: »

Hi,

I was wondering if there are huge grocery retailer shops near Dublin that offer more diversity than the ones I located in the city center. I've been grocery-shopping at the Dunnes of Rathmines but their food offer is actually quite repetitive after a while. (For french speaker: je cherche une grande surface type Cora ou Carrefour, un magasin de cette taille).

Many thanks,

Pauline

We don't have anything on the scale of Carrefour in Dublin, with maybe the exception of Tescos in Clare Hall, and I am surprised that they are not here.
For diversity you will have to alternate between the different outlets, but most of them can be much the same as each other except on pricing.

Panline

Noodler: please refrain saying ****

Speedsie: Superquinn offers slightly more variety but is too expensive for my budget. Thanks for the advise though

noodler

Panline wrote: »

Noodler: please refrain saying ****

Speedsie: Superquinn offers slightly more variety but is too expensive for my budget. Thanks for the advise though

As above, stores comparably priced to Dunnes would be Tesco, Supervalu, Aldi Lidl etc but I udnerstand there are not many branches near you.

Fallon & Byrne I have always found quite expensive although you would never do a full shop there, bits and pieces of stuff.

Panline

Thanks again Noodler. Do big grocery shops not exist at all in Ireland or just not in Dublin? Is there something similar within a driving distance to Dublin? In France (sorry to always refer to France but that's what I know best) you wouldn't find a big Carrefour within the city but you would find it far from the center, sometimes in big shopping centers.

inforfun

You were spoiled in France with Carrefour, Supermarche and the likes.
Nothing in Ireland comes close to those.
You would need to go to the North (Asda) to see shops that will resemble Carrefour a bit.

noodler

Panline wrote: »

Thanks again Noodler. Do big grocery shops not exist at all in Ireland or just not in Dublin? Is there something similar within a driving distance to Dublin? In France (sorry to always refer to France but that's what I know best) you wouldn't find a big Carrefour within the city but you would find it far from the center, sometimes in big shopping centers.

Well, I work in D4 and there is a massive Tesco below me.

If you mean a collection of shops (i.e. a shopping centre rather than simply a big supermarket) then we do have a few.

St Stephens Green
Illac Centre
Jervis Centre
Dundrum Shopping Centre
Liffey Valley
Blanchardstown Shopping Centre
Merrion Shopping Centre (not huge now but still)
Cornelscourt Shopping Centre

and more I am sure.


As you can see, a good few of the examples above are in suburban type areas.

Panline

I mean "massive" grocery shops Thanks for the information about the Tesco located in D4, I will try to go there.

Many thanks,

hardCopy

I'm pretty sure a shop the size of Carrefoure would be too large for planning in Ireland. The law had to be changed to allow Ikea build their outlet in Ballymun, that on;ly applied to "durable goods" retailers in special areas, all grocery shops must be below 6,000 square metres.

Koptain Liverpool

There is a massive Tesco also at the junction of the Navan Road and Cabra road. It's only a 15 minute bus from the city center. They have a huge variety of products compared to other smaller supermarkets in the city center.

strandroad

Panline wrote: »

I mean "massive" grocery shops Thanks for the information about the Tesco located in D4, I will try to go there.

Many thanks,

Tesco in Dundrum SC is huge (Luas accessible), the one in Jervis SC is biggish also. There's a really big Dunnes in Sandyford.
Larger outlets stock more options, worth giving them a try!

Cool Mo D

The biggest supermarkets are the Tesco Extra shops, which are a lot larger than the usual tesco.

There are four in the Dublin area: at Clare hall, Finglas, Maynooth and Naas.
These would be the closest to a French hypermarket. I don't know if Dunnes has an equivalent, but the Dunnes Stores in Cornelscourt shopping centre is quite big.

markest

www.mortons.ie in Ranelagh

thegreatiam

Cool Mo D wrote: »

The biggest supermarkets are the Tesco Extra shops, which are a lot larger than the usual tesco.

There are four in the Dublin area: at Clare hall, Finglas, Maynooth and Naas.
These would be the closest to a French hypermarket. I don't know if Dunnes has an equivalent, but the Dunnes Stores in Cornelscourt shopping centre is quite big.

"Tesco's largest hypermarket in Europe is in Naas Co Kildare"
learn something new each day

I am pie

Carrefour may be good in France but in the rest of the world they are pretty poor. Actually one of the cheapest and lowest quality chains in South America.

Careful what you wish for! If tesco were in France they would have to have French quality produce, as that it what the local market expects. Irish supermarkets cater to what the Irish market en masse buys.

Higher quality products are sold via niche retailers in smaller locations with smaller prices.

If Carrefour arrived in Ireland you'd be looking at another Tesco. They wouldn't arrive and try and convince the mass market to immediately adopt French products / buying habits.

liffeylite

The largest Tesco store in the world is just outside Dublin, in Naas.
There is also a huge Dunnes in Cornelscourt.
As well as these chains, try:

Superquinn
Supervalu
Lidl
Aldi
Marks & Spencer

For high end goods groceries:

Fallon & byrne
Fresh supermarket ( outlets in Smithfield, Grand canal dock and village quarter)
Donnybrook fair ( outlets in Donnybrook, Ballsbridge Stilorgan greystones and grand canal dock)
mortons in Ranelagh
Kennedys foodstore in Fairview


There are lots of grocer shops dotted around the city. but moore street market may be of interest.

Also, you have the large fish and fruit markets in Smithfield- but you will need to arrive early to get the good deals.

Basically, there are tonnes of choices, its just a case of looking around. you wont find a better choice of groceries anywhere in the uk or Ireland other than London.

msg11

Tesco would have the biggest supermarkets in Ireland. The biggest one is in Nass. The second biggest, is the Ballbrigan Tesco Extra with two floors.

Finglas is bigger than Clarehall. Most of the large stores and extras carry the same grocery range in store.

OldGoat

Don't get carried away thinking bigger is better for the likes of Tesco. The bigger shops simply carry more of the same stock you find in the smaller branches rather then different stock.

Miss Lockhart

OldGoat wrote: »

Don't get carried away thinking bigger is better for the likes of Tesco. The bigger shops simply carry more of the same stock you find in the smaller branches rather then different stock.

The only thing "out of the ordinary" I would be on the look out for would be vegetarian products but it has certainly been my experience that the largest Tesco carry a much wider variety of such products than their average-sized counterparts. That's just one example but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a wider variety of other unusual or niche items in such stores.

That said I'm not sure what exactly the OP is looking for. I lived in France and while we don't have any grocery shops as large as a Carrefour hypermarché, I don't see much difference in the variety of products available - it's just that you have to shop around rather than having it all under one roof. The types of products are different sure, but I don't see the difference in variety. You won't find everything you're used to from France just as you wouldn't find everything from Ireland in France.

ScottSF

The bigger shops simply carry more of the same stock you find in the smaller branches rather then different stock.

I tried out shopping at Tesco.ie which allows you to order groceries and have them delivered. I was hoping they would have a much larger selection of items to choose from versus my local medium sized Tesco here in Dublin. From my browsing the online store it was mostly the same products with noticeably few additional items. Perhaps they limit it based on your location in Ireland but I am not sure.

I was hoping for more healthy varieties of packaged foods and more frozen items to choose from.

liffeylite

Someone posted a link to another Italian grocery store in Smithfield I was unaware of. So I thought it may be useful to the OP:

www.littleitalyltd.com


Also in Smithfield

www.kishfish.ie

These two options plus the Smithfield fruit and veg market and the FRESH independent Supermarket in Smithfield square make the district a pretty good alternative for groceries.

dsmythy

The Jumbo hypermarkets I came across in Portugal were beast. Pity about the planning laws in Ireland because there are some big empty unused wastelands around.

Giblet

dsmythy wrote: »

The Jumbo hypermarkets I came across in Portugal were beast. Pity about the planning laws in Ireland because there are some big empty unused wastelands around.

Aye, their fish sections are bigger than most supermarkets here. I'd love a Continente here.

Mr Whirly

OldGoat wrote: »

Don't get carried away thinking bigger is better for the likes of Tesco. The bigger shops simply carry more of the same stock you find in the smaller branches rather then different stock.

That's not true. The likes of the Tesco in Sandymount have an atrocious selection compared to the bigger stores.

msg11

OldGoat wrote: »

Don't get carried away thinking bigger is better for the likes of Tesco. The bigger shops simply carry more of the same stock you find in the smaller branches rather then different stock.

The store plans would be different to cater for longer aisles. But only some ranges are bigger, one example would be free from range is different in the Extras and Large stores.

BTW the prices vary between stores not all Tescos are priced the same.