Abolition of The Groceries Order

Omega

Registered User
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317
Well, it's finally happened. Fair play to Eddie Hobbs and people power.....
 
pgf5312 said:
Well, it's finally happened. Fair play to Eddie Hobbs and people power.....



People power my .... It's the power of the multi-nationals/supermarkets and that F***** Quinn who have finally empowered themselves into wiping real competition off the face of the retail market. Then believe me, they won't want to sell below cost!

Ahhh!
 
Who is the real competition that you talk of? The local corner shop? The ostensibly independent retailers who are often franchisees (Spar, Centra, Mace, Londis, SuperValu etc.)? Lidl/Aldi? Somebody else?
 
Yes, the real independents. The local cornershop. Who have also to survive against the franchises as well as the conglomerates. Don't kid yourself into thinking that all independent stores are now franchises. Look around. They invariably move into areas already occupied by cornershops

Maybe you'll think different when you'll have to travel miles to the supermarket, spend an eternity in a queue waiting to be checked out by a speechless cashier. Taking the extra cost of petrol and parking into consideration aswell as the inconvenience. Not to mention the other products that aren't loss leaders.
 
Gunnerbar said:
Don't kid yourself into thinking that all independent stores are now franchises.
I never said I thought that they were all franchises.

Maybe you'll think different ...
Think different? I never said how I think in the first place. I simply asked some questions. But now that you mention it...

Look around.
I do - every day. And what I see is a range of stores from the cut price supermarkets like Aldi/Lidl, the regular supermarkets like Dunnes/Tesco, the slightly more upmarket supermarkets like SuperQuinn/M&S, the franchises and the small "local/corner" shops all doing business and few of them ever closing down due to lack of custom. I have seen people buy stuff that they can get much cheaper on another store because they are prepared to pay a premium for the convenience. That's what a varied and free market is all about. Vive la difference and farewell to unnecessary and competition stifling legislation such as the Groceries Order.

As it happens I do most of my general grocery shopping Lidl, the local butchers and the Moore Street fruit and vegetable stalls and walk or take public transport to and from and I haven't had any problems to date thanks very much.
 
In all fairness now I'm not talking about those that live in or near a town, who would have access to every style of outlet and can pick and choose. I'm talking about the other 75% of the population to whom these local shops serve.

Good luck to you if you have a real choice to pick and choose and don't live a distance away.

Who is the real competition that you talk of? The local corner shop? The ostensibly independent retailers who are often franchisees (Spar, Centra, Mace, Londis, SuperValu etc.)? Lidl/Aldi? Somebody else?


BTW, I think the tone of what you said gave me plenty clue as to where you were coming from!

Right, I'm off to Tescos to get something for the tea!
 
Gunnerbar said:
In all fairness now I'm not talking about those that live in or near a town, who would have access to every style of outlet and can pick and choose. I'm talking about the other 75% of the population to whom these local shops serve.
Where does this 75% come from? According to http://www.environ.ie/DOEI/DOEIPol.nsf/0/62d49d52d4bc449780256f0f003bc7ea/$FILE/2.%20Ireland%201992%20and%202002.pdf (this report) c. 60% of the population of Ireland lived in urban areas in 2000 and possibly even more today. Also 1.5 million of a total population of just less than 4 million, or almost 40%, lived in the greater Dublin area in 2001. Do you really believe that 75% of the population live in the sticks with no choice in terms of where they can shop other than the local shop? And if they do and there is no other choice then surely the local shop is not under threat by default?

BTW, I think the tone of what you said gave me plenty clue as to where you were coming from!
Rather than working off clues that you detect in the tone why don't you just read the words instead?
 
Is the lifting of the order immediate? When will we actually be able to buy groceries cheaper?
 
I think so - according to tonight's RTE News at least one supermarket chain (not named) is already offering two for the price of one specials on milk.
 
I look forward to a ruthless price war in my shopping triangle of Aldi on Parnell Street, Lidl on Moore Street and Dunnes in the ILAC Centre so!
 
ClubMan said:
I look forward to a ruthless price war in my shopping triangle of Aldi on Parnell Street, Lidl on Moore Street and Dunnes in the ILAC Centre so!
Ben has the power!
 
On a worldwide scale Aldi and Lidl are way way bigger than Dunnes, they just don't have quite as many outlets here yet. They could easily do away with Dunnes if they wanted to. Tesco could do it also without blinking.
 

I posted something here a while back about being in a village in the west of Ireland last summer that had 3 corner shops and the nearest supermarket was 10 miles away. All 3 shops were extremely expensive and poorly stocked. In my opinion this community is crying out for a Mace or Spar to open up and put the 3 crap shops out of existance so that people don't need to drive 10 miles for nappies etc.
 
This idea of the local corner shop, 'where everyone knows your name' really gets on my goat.

In the area I grew up in all 'local' shops are now Centra, Spar, Londis etc. They are cleaner, better stocked, cheaper, far better selection e.g. deli produce. The staff in the 'friendly' local shop were invariably surly and rude, whereas at least the oriental staff of their successor shops are courteous, polite, and efficient. And they actually bother to run a mop around the place regularly.

Listening to Eamonn Dunphy waffling about his local newsagent 'Trevor' and the chats they have made me want to gag. Of course Dunphy is a) a renowned chatty celebrity; b) lives in Ranelagh, probably the oddest village in the country; and c) has his own 'back in the rare oul' times' agenda.

And getting the guy who owns Morton's in Ranelagh on to defend the groceries order was just hilarious. Oh no, Morton's and Donnybrook Fair may be driven out of business by predatory pricing on nappies
 
All 3 shops were extremely expensive and poorly stocked. In my opinion this community is crying out for a Mace or Spar to open up and put the 3 crap shops out of existance so that people don't need to drive 10 miles for nappies etc.

Anyone who buys nappies in Mace or Spar, except in an emergency, needs their head examined.
 
DaveD said:
On a worldwide scale Aldi and Lidl are way way bigger than Dunnes, they just don't have quite as many outlets here yet. They could easily do away with Dunnes if they wanted to. Tesco could do it also without blinking.

I agree, Aldi/Lidl will continue to open more and more outlets - they have regular ads in the property pages looking for suitable sites all over the country. Finding suitable sites and getting the necessary planning are the only constraining factor to their expansion imo.
 
ubiquitous said:
Anyone who buys nappies in Mace or Spar, except in an emergency, needs their head examined.

When people are stuck for something its much easier to buy them in a local Mace than drive 10 miles to a supermarket. At the moment this village has 3 shops and only sell a very limited range of nappies, baby milk formulae etc.

Who cares about the small shopkeeper anyway? Close down if its not profitable, its called redundancy and it happens every day. Get a job in the new Spar instead.