Newry - Shops giving £1 for €1

yqtwqxqm · 16-08-2016 07:54PM #1

Just back from a shopping trip to Newry.
In the Buttercrane center most of the shops were giving £1 for €1 exchange rate. Some were giving slightly less but if you asked them nicely why you shoud shop there rather than walk a few meters for a better xchange rate they would do 1 - 1 too.

Might be useful to anyone going up there.

Also I was talking to an Irish person in there who was at the outlet in Banbridge and they said its 1 - 1 there if you ask too. I wasny up that far myself though.

brightkane · 16-08-2016 08:14PM

any shops in perticular?

darrenking · 16-08-2016 08:17PM

Do you know if Argos is giving € for £?

yqtwqxqm · 16-08-2016 08:35PM

The other half went on a major shopping spree today. Id say we hit 75% of the shops in there and all did 1 - 1. Boots didnt, but when asked they did. Same with Clarks. I wasnt in Argos though. Give them a ring before you go up and see if they'll do it.

cs5 · 16-08-2016 08:39PM

That must only be in the last few days because when I was up there last week it was €1 = £88p which I thought was quite good at the time.

jennyhayes123 · 16-08-2016 09:05PM

Are supermarkets?

javagal · 16-08-2016 09:06PM

Does anyone think it'll be for a few weeks ? Thinking of booking a night in belfast and making a start on the big red man if toys r us are doing it.

L1011 · 16-08-2016 09:08PM

jennyhayes123 wrote: »

Are supermarkets?

Profit margins are far too small for that yet.

When they were doing it last time, the rate was ~.95; its ~.86 now. Ditto Argos I'd guess

Its going to be clothes and random tat retailers primarily, which pretty much defines Buttercrane's non-anchor tenants. Food and electronics do not have hefty margins.

yqtwqxqm · 16-08-2016 10:34PM

Sterling was falling heavily last few days. Seems to have slowed now though just looking at it.
Was talking about it to a friend just there via whatsapp and she said she got 95P to €1 in Sainsburys today. So they arent doing 1 - 1

Worth ringing the shops you are interested to check before going up.

Atlantic Dawn · 16-08-2016 10:46PM

It will be mainly mickey mouse shops offering it, the major chains won't.

C.O.Y.B.I.B · 16-08-2016 10:55PM

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

It will be mainly mickey mouse shops offering it, the major chains won't.

Nice one , my kids are big Disney fans ;-)

dubsuperstar · 16-08-2016 10:58PM

I was in Newry for a short time on Monday and some shops had exchange rate up. None showing pound = euro or even close to it. Will be in Newry and Banbridge tomorrow, will ask the question and see how I get on.

uck51js9zml2yt · 16-08-2016 11:07PM

Not seen that happening in Newry in a long time

brightkane · 16-08-2016 11:18PM

dubsuperstar wrote: »

I was in Newry for a short time on Monday and some shops had exchange rate up. None showing pound = euro or even close to it. Will be in Newry and Banbridge tomorrow, will ask the question and see how I get on.

If you could report back it would be much appreciated.

dubsuperstar · 16-08-2016 11:36PM

brightkane wrote: »

If you could report back it would be much appreciated.

Will do

ImARebel · 17-08-2016 07:16AM

Sorry for being a half with but I presume you pay I Eur for the sterling equivalent which on some cases is 1 to 1 and in the others they calculate it for you? So you can pay in Euro?

Sorry I'm a Newry virgin.. It's a long way from home for me :-)

The_Conductor · 17-08-2016 07:23AM

jennyhayes123 wrote: »

Are supermarkets?

Yesterday Sainsburys Newry offered 82p (not 91p as another poster has said).
When I was offered that- I simply paid with my credit card- which gave me an instant rate of just over 85p (and no cross border charge anymore).

Plenty of shops in the Quays offering 90p- however, none of the larger multiples. Best deals seem to be on shops (such as Next/Boots etc) who have operations on both sides of the border- which make comparing the various prices a lot easier (picked up some reasonable items for the kids in Next, that we had put off buying as Next is so bloody expensive- but the sterling prices on the labels bore no cognisance of the collapse in sterling).

Don't assume you're going to get ridiculous bargains- the prices are actually remarkably high up there- was going to book the car in for new tyres which it needs on the Dublin road- but honestly- I can get better prices down here- and as for groceries- the main reason for shopping there was variety/selection- or different special offers (Gillete extra sensitive shaving gel @ 1.99 in Sainsburys)- its by no means a compelling reason to go north.

Anyone travelling north- they're stopping the M50 toll tags on the M1 on the 31st of August- so keep change handy.

All-in-all, if you were up north for another reason (we were taking the kids to the Planetarium at Armagh)- no reason not to pop in for a few minutes- but I honestly couldn't suggest its a good idea to go up on spec expecting to get 'bargains'- any 'bargains' are few and far between.

TimHorton · 17-08-2016 07:38AM

yqtwqxqm wrote: »

Just back from a shopping trip to Newry.
In the Buttercrane center most of the shops were giving £1 for €1 exchange rate. Some were giving slightly less but if you asked them nicely why you shoud shop there rather than walk a few meters for a better xchange rate they would do 1 - 1 too.

Might be useful to anyone going up there.

Also I was talking to an Irish person in there who was at the outlet in Banbridge and they said its 1 - 1 there if you ask too. I wasny up that far myself though.

"Also I was talking to an Irish person in there" FFS Everyone in Northern Ireland is Irish

testicles · 17-08-2016 07:49AM

This post has been deleted.

g0g · 17-08-2016 08:07AM

Can someone please explain to me why this makes sense? Why would shops want to take even more hit on what is already a weak exchange rate for them? Surely the already-attractive rate is enough to bring the bargain hunters North?

Subcomandante Marcos · 17-08-2016 09:34AM

Jaxen Modern U-boat wrote: »

Not seen that happening in Newry in a long time

Haven't seen sterling fall to €1.16 in a long time either but it's a continuing trend.

L1011 · 17-08-2016 09:35AM

g0g wrote: »

Can someone please explain to me why this makes sense? Why would shops want to take even more hit on what is already a weak exchange rate for them? Surely the already-attractive rate is enough to bring the bargain hunters North?

UK consumer spending is in a ditch so they need to generate sales somehow.

ohnonotgmail · 17-08-2016 09:56AM

The_Conductor wrote: »

Yesterday Sainsburys Newry offered 82p (not 91p as another poster has said).
When I was offered that- I simply paid with my credit card- which gave me an instant rate of just over 85p (and no cross border charge anymore).

Plenty of shops in the Quays offering 90p- however, none of the larger multiples. Best deals seem to be on shops (such as Next/Boots etc) who have operations on both sides of the border- which make comparing the various prices a lot easier (picked up some reasonable items for the kids in Next, that we had put off buying as Next is so bloody expensive- but the sterling prices on the labels bore no cognisance of the collapse in sterling).

Don't assume you're going to get ridiculous bargains- the prices are actually remarkably high up there- was going to book the car in for new tyres which it needs on the Dublin road- but honestly- I can get better prices down here- and as for groceries- the main reason for shopping there was variety/selection- or different special offers (Gillete extra sensitive shaving gel @ 1.99 in Sainsburys)- its by no means a compelling reason to go north.

Anyone travelling north- they're stopping the M50 toll tags on the M1 on the 31st of August- so keep change handy.

All-in-all, if you were up north for another reason (we were taking the kids to the Planetarium at Armagh)- no reason not to pop in for a few minutes- but I honestly couldn't suggest its a good idea to go up on spec expecting to get 'bargains'- any 'bargains' are few and far between.

Does that not only apply to certain brands of tag? I have an easypass tag and it isnt affected by this.

mel123 · 17-08-2016 10:00AM

Little bit off the topic of the thread, but i wonder is Belfast doing the same, anyone know?

xabi · 17-08-2016 10:47AM

ImARebel wrote: »

Sorry for being a half with but I presume you pay I Eur for the sterling equivalent which on some cases is 1 to 1 and in the others they calculate it for you? So you can pay in Euro?

Sorry I'm a Newry virgin.. It's a long way from home for me :-)

Said no girl there ever, sorry :P

For Forks Sake · 17-08-2016 11:53AM

The_Conductor wrote: »

Anyone travelling north- they're stopping the M50 toll tags on the M1 on the 31st of August- so keep change handy.

Only for those using an eFlow tag, most are unaffected http://etoll.ie/news/important-announcement-fo/index.xml

L1011 · 17-08-2016 01:12PM

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Only for those using an eFlow tag, most are unaffected http://etoll.ie/news/important-announcement-fo/index.xml

Most tag vendors - I'd suspect that there could easily be as many or more eflow tags than the rest.

sweetie · 17-08-2016 03:14PM

mel123 wrote: »

Little bit off the topic of the thread, but i wonder is Belfast doing the same, anyone know?

Up there at the weekend, never saw no heard of anything like this. Felt ripped off more than anything!

yqtwqxqm · 17-08-2016 06:26PM

Was up there again this morning finishing off some work and popped into the quays for lunch.
I asked in Sainsburys and they were doing 89p - €1
The odd one is doing 1 - 1.

They said it was better yesterday as the pound had been falling for a while, but it has started to go the other direction a little so they are rowing back on the exchange rates.

Was good while it lasted. Still good rates though.

Subcomandante Marcos · 17-08-2016 06:35PM

yqtwqxqm wrote: »

They said it was better yesterday as the pound had been falling for a while, but it has started to go the other direction a little so they are rowing back on the exchange rates.

Was good while it lasted. Still good rates though.

down to £1.15 today from £1.16 at close last night.

The downward trend will continue.

dubsuperstar · 17-08-2016 07:07PM

Found no shops in Quays or Buttercrane offering pound for euro. Most offering 85p to €1.00. Picked up a few bargains in sports direct but other than that we bought very little.
Also called up to the Outlet in Banbridge. Place is like a ghost town now. I'd say about 40% of the units are empty, there is now an omniplex taking up at least 6 stores. We browsed around a few shops and had a good look in Nike store and Next, no bargins to be had in fact the Nike store was more expensive for a pair of runners that I recently bought in the Nike store in Blanchardstown SC. It was a waste of a journey going to Banbridge, its dead.

It looks like Mc Donalds is building a new restaurant here so might encourage a few others to move in, it's badly needed!!!

Newry - Shops giving £1 for €1

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