So let me get this right samanthajane - you paid short of €140 in Dunnes locally as opposed to just over €175 in Newry and got twice as much goods in Newry. Factor in the cost of petrol (say around €25 for the round trip) that works out at about €80 euro saving for a trip that probably takes you around 3 hours? Is it really worth this? Could you not look at shopping in Lidl or Aldi locally instead? Firstly you would save at least 2.5 hours in your day, secondly you would be supporting the economy here, and thirdly I would expect (if our experience is anything to go by) your bill to save at least 20% on the Dunnes prices - so what would cost €280 in Dunnes would cost only maybe around €200 in Lidl/Aldi. I really don't get this idea of a 125 odd mile round trip just to do your weekly shopping!
My situation is a bit different from most people. As you can see from my location i'm split between newry and dublin, so the petrol and time costs dont factor in because i have to make that journey anyway ( i drive a peugeot 206cc 1.6, if i was to factor in the cost the petrol would only be around €15, ) Also i dont have to change over my money so i dont lose out there i use my english debit/credit cards.
So for me yes it is totally worth it. just one example in dunnes a bunch of 6 banana's €1.67, sainsburys bunch of 6 banana's ( approx same size ) 75p. I could sit here and go through both shopping reciepts and give loads more of these examples.
What i got in dunnes was every day items milk, bread, sandwich fillers, drinks ect ect and it wouldn't last us more than 3-4 days. The shop from newry will last the whole week, if not more. Next week when i go up i wont get as much from sainsburys and i'll go and do a freezer shop in iceland, i cant do both at once i dont have enough room in my car.
I'm all for shopping local when i can afford to do so. Only a few days ago i went to enquire on prices to get a new kitchen ( will be about a year before we can afford to get the new kitchen but i wanted a rough idea of how much the kitchen i wanted would be ) i noticed they did a small range of fridge freezers, cookers ect, the sales man told me i would be better off buying them in the north and it would be so much cheaper. Not sure what to make of this?!?! Maybe by saving on buying them up north i have more to spend on the actual kitchen with them, maybe they were going to stop selling the fridges and cookers and knew that in a years time when we hope to do this they wont even be stocking them anyone.
Even if i didn't have to do the trip to newry i would still go there to get my shopping because for me it works out cheaper every time. And not just for food shopping either for all the other little bits and pieces you might want to pick up.
If i can get it in Ireland for the same price then of course i wouldn't have to go else where and i would shop local. Untill that day comes i will continue to go where the prices are cheaper. It's all well and good saying to support the country but i have a family to support and for me they will come first each and every time. All these savings means i have the money for them to do activities, to take them to the cinema every now and then, and all these are local. I may be taking away from the country buying shopping in newry but by doing so i have the money to put back into other area's.