Convenience shops....

johndaman66

brian_gall85 wrote: »

What if you had to drive 20 miles to get to one of these supermarkets. Also Applegreen stores aren't exactly convenience stores.

Fair point and I should have mentioned that in my original post. Doesn't make sense to drive 20 miles to buy a bottle of coke in Tesco/ Dunnes etc. I'm not going to speak for everyone but for me personally I'm just as likely to be passing a Dunnes or Tesco as I am a "convenience shop". I'm not generally a coke or lucozade drinker, hard water from my own well all the way for me, but if I was I would consider myself to have a problem if I was gagging for it that much that nothing would do but I'd have to rush out to buy it in a "convenience shop" at the inflated prices they charge. I would have considered Applegreen, Topaz and the like to be convenience stores although technically they may not be.

ps. not saying there aren't people out there in the country living 20 miles from their nearest Tesco/ Dunnes but if you are you are fiercely marginalised

johndaman66

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Dunnes 'express' tills are anything but express in my experience, usually staffed by people who enjoy long conversations with each other too. My closest Spar is a 2 minute walk, same as Dunnes but they close at 7 or 9, Spar are there til midnight, Tesco is a 20 minute walk, so yes Spar is far more convenient.

I'd say your hitting the wrong Dunnes ben.schlomo. The nearest Dunnes to me has no gabbing much at the tills, nothing that will hold the show up anyway. I see if there are queues forming they are generally pretty quick to call all checkout staff to their tills and now have 6 self scanner tills. They close at 11pm and 12 on Thursdays and Fridays I think. Its about 10 mins walk from me...I reckon it doesn't get too much more convenient than that. but your local Dunnes may not be as efficient, I appreciate that.

There is an Amber filling station 5 mins walk from me but it closes at 10pm. There is no dicking around at the tills though discussing the weather or local deaths etc. I acknowledge that. On the other hand the next nearest convenience store to me is a Centra. They are open until 11pm but I see your often waiting at the checkout a fair spell as they do be understaffed and plenty of dicking around discussing weather and local gossip etc.

I suppose it depends on your geographical location and your own local convenience stores but I would suggest that plenty of so called "convenience stores" aint exactly convenient or the larger cheaper stores are just as convenient...whatever way you want to look at it....

delahuntv

johndaman66 wrote: »

ps. not saying there aren't people out there in the country living 20 miles from their nearest Tesco/ Dunnes but if you are you are fiercely marginalised

Its called living in heaven!

Try Kerry - everyone west of Killarney is in a tesco/dunnes free zone. But we have loads of local artisan producers and local farm produce that is 100 times tastier!

And as I live there for about 6 months of the year, its heaven talking to local shopkeepers and butchers who will give you best advice and best food. And at the end of the day, you buy less and spend less. (and throw out almost nothing)

rubadub

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Dunnes 'express' tills are anything but express in my experience

What bugs me is shops with "10 items or less" tills but they do not stick to the limit, the system should block them from scanning any more. I have seen workers in tesco stick to the 3 item limit at a customer service desk, saying it could not process more. -of course this could lead to further delays if they know the person and process another order for them.

-Back on lucozade, I got 2 freezing cold cans for €1 in a €2 type shop in dun laoghaire, the one with the really large glass front. It was 75c if getting just 1 can.

munchkin_utd

a convienence shop charging a premium for the convienence!

Who'd have thought it?

delahuntv

I read this book a few years ago -

Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies, And Other Pricing Puzzles unravels the pricing mysteries we encounter every day. by Richard B McKenzie

A good read if you are in the economics/business field. The essence of it explains why Cinema Popcorn is superb value even though its a premium price. It also gives an insight into many pricing policies and even why a 6 pack of an item can be cheaper per item than a 24 pack of the exact same item.

foggy_lad

johndaman66 wrote: »

You need to ask the question though are convenience shops any more convenient than your larger supermarkets. It is crazy standing in a queue for ages to buy a bottle of coke but many of these stores are staffed well and all the Tesco and many of the Dunnes now have self scanners and express checkouts which you'd be in and out quicker from than the Applegreens and Centras et al...to me thats what convenience is...

Its manys a time I went into a "convenience store and stood in a queue for ages....not convenience.

You are paying to have the convenience store near where you work so you can pop in at lunchtime for a roll and drink, most supermarkets are not as conveniently located but probably suffer worse from clogged up tills at lunchtime.

delahuntv wrote: »

Its called living in heaven!

Try Kerry - everyone west of Killarney is in a tesco/dunnes free zone. But we have loads of local artisan producers and local farm produce that is 100 times tastier!

And as I live there for about 6 months of the year, its heaven talking to local shopkeepers and butchers who will give you best advice and best food. And at the end of the day, you buy less and spend less. (and throw out almost nothing)

Oh Lah Di Dah...

It is well for those who can afford the huge cost of such artesian/hipster goods but most people don't live in a holiday home for half the year and even if they did they would be looking for much better value for money than these high priced operators charge.