Shopping trip to Newry - 2008 advice?

Re: parking in Newry - 2008 advice?

faolteam said:
if i go to to newry mid week weres the best place to park the quays car park or sainsbury car park and do they charge,

also is it worth going to the outlet i dont know which to do first any clues ?????????
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Sainsbury's is in The Quays shopping centre. The other shopping centre in Newry is Buttercrane. Both have free parking, and lots of it, but The Quays tends to fill up first (probably because of Sainsbury's). I parked there easily enough shortly after 9 on Thursday, but by 11, people seemed willing to sell their firstborn for a parking spot.

The Outlet is a lovely place to shop. It depends on what you're looking to buy on whether or not it's worth a visit, though. Check out the website () before you go to see if the shops would interest you.
 
if you're going to go to the outlet, i'd advise doing the rest of your shopping in lisburn. i went to the sainsbury in sprucefield there yesterday and no queues at the checkouts at all, very easy parking too. it's a little further on from newry than i'd remembered about 25 minutes but handy to find as is just off the motorway (you have to head towards the m1 then come back on yourself at the roundabout to get in). the outlet is only about 10 minutes away on the way back. i just went into sainsburys but there's an argos, toys'r'us, b&q and a currys there too.
i was mainly buying british ales that can't be bought down here but the range of vegetarian products is miles above what's available in the supermarkets down here.
 
Hi Guys,

If you are travelling north to take benefit of savings my advice is if Newry is busy, visit Banbridge. It has a Tesco's (take the next exit off the A1 after the Outlet just past Summerhill housing development, take right at t junction towards town centre and take right at roundabout. It also has an Iceland in the town centre. Banbridge town centre has some lovely shops, and if you want a fantastic lunch try Piggots, Rathfriland St (ask any of the locals for directions) or Cafe Coco. Sprucefield is just 15mins north (take the signs for Belfast)

Lyttles, Porters, Quails, Donaghys, Ardis are all stores worth visiting. Banbridge is a very euro-friendly town.
 
ubiquitous said:
I sincerely doubt this. I have shopped in Enniskillen for donkeys years because I live quite near it, but until a 15-18 months ago there was little discernable price difference, except on random products, eg items sold below cost in NI. In fact one of the major benefits of the town in those days was that it was quieter than places like Athlone. Had the price differences been that big, it would have been a lot busier, as it was for a while in the 80s and is again these days.
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totally disagree!! - We have done our big grocery shopping in the 6 counties for years and even when the stg was about 63 or 64p to the € we still saved a lot of money. The fact is that we have been ripped off for years and years and now it really matters because people cant afford to be screwed anymore so they shop around.
 
killybram said:
totally disagree!! - We have done our big grocery shopping in the 6 counties for years and even when the stg was about 63 or 64p to the € we still saved a lot of money. The fact is that we have been ripped off for years and years and now it really matters because people cant afford to be screwed anymore so they shop around.
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How much weekly have you been saving? I understood some retailers were charging up to 50% extra in exchange rates?
 
killybram said:
totally disagree!! - We have done our big grocery shopping in the 6 counties for years and even when the stg was about 63 or 64p to the € we still saved a lot of money. The fact is that we have been ripped off for years and years and now it really matters because people cant afford to be screwed anymore so they shop around.
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I think we can agree to differ on this one. The fact is that, until 12-18 months ago, the flow of shoppers across the border was merely a trickle. And, a few years ago, Dunnes Stores and Lidl in Cavan were regularly full of Northerners who had travelled down to do their grocery shopping.
 
Bronte said:
...spending to save money - madness, it's to replace the chatter about house prices going up. There is no discussion at all about what people are really saving. As in saving by not spending, now where are those people?
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Bronte said:
I haven't read all the posts on this but I cannot see the advantage of travelling vast distances, queuing for parking spaces to save 40 Euro on the weekly shop. There is a cost to travel, time and stress that should be factored in before you travel from say Kerry to Newry. It of course makes sense for people on the border and those going on a once off for say alcohol for a party where the savings may be substantial. I'm delighed ye are all going North if it means I'll find it easier to park and shop in Dublin.
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Bronte said:
How much weekly have you been saving? I understood some retailers were charging up to 50% extra in exchange rates?
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Bronte, I may be wrong, but with the tone and hyperbole of your posts it looks to me like you have some vested interest in discouraging people from spending in NI?!
 
I posted my savings here:

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=98563

I did no research (bigger fool me) and the prices have reduced since my trip. I couldve easily saved up to 40% - 50% had i been properly prepared.

It is worth it if you will do your homework.

Personally I think bypassing Newry (go even to sprucefield) makes much more sense then sitting in traffic in Newry. I got to belfast in 2 hours on a tuesday at 10.30am!

The reason this "patriotic" waffle isnt working is because the government have a "do as I say, not as I do" approach to things. Perhaps if they made some sacrifices themselves people would feel more patriotic. Like its government, the people are looking after their own interests at the expense of the country.
 
Caveat said:
Bronte, I may be wrong, but with the tone and hyperbole of your posts it looks to me like you have some vested interest in discouraging people from spending in NI?!
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LOL - Sorry Caveat, no vested interest whatsoever. It just has not been proved to me that it's worthwhile on a long term basis unless you may be living on the border. Comparison by 6 county shop to 26 county shop by item to item of normal shopping of the same branded good taking into account distance travelled, cost of time wasted, and exchange rate differences. I'm also intrigued with all this shopping going on when we're in the middle of a recession. That's all, nothing else, I'm easily amused you see.
 
Bronte said:
I'm also intrigued with all this shopping going on when we're in the middle of a recession.
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I think the problem, as you've kind of alluded to, is the whole noise surrounding this phenomenon.

It's easy to assume that the shoppers heading north are buying everything that isn't screwed down but speaking for myself and anyone else I know - all we are doing is our standard grocery shopping, albeit that we are buying a few items in bulk where appropriate.

I think there is absolutely no doubt that there are savings of 20, 25, 30% to be made even when fuel costs are accounted for. Having said that, I can't see how it would be advantageous for someone from say, Kerry to shop in NI but conversely, anyone within approx. 45 minutes drive of the border (and especially those closer) should benefit a lot from the trip IMO.

As always, shop around and compare like with like, remembering that not everything is cheaper.
 
NorthDrum said:
I posted my savings here:

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=98563

I did no research (bigger fool me) and the prices have reduced since my trip. I couldve easily saved up to 40% - 50% had i been properly prepared.

It is worth it if you will do your homework.

Personally I think bypassing Newry (go even to sprucefield) makes much more sense then sitting in traffic in Newry. I got to belfast in 2 hours on a tuesday at 10.30am!

The reason this "patriotic" waffle isnt working is because the government have a "do as I say, not as I do" approach to things. Perhaps if they made some sacrifices themselves people would feel more patriotic. Like its government, the people are looking after their own interests at the expense of the country.
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What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Ireland has benefited massively from globalisation. When Barclays, Rabobank, Deutsche Bank have opened in the IFSC to take advantage of favourable conditions, they have taken money from the British, Dutch and German exchequer. The wages they have paid have fed straight into the Irish exchequer through direct and indirect tax take, be it income tax, VAT, VRT, DIRT or even stamp duties.

This same system has allowed people to cross European borders freely. Countries who have not benefited from the EU to the extent of Ireland have been putting up with it for years. Finnish buying vodka in Talinn. Austrians having their teeth done in Slovakia.

I think the Irish government should be happy that they are part of a system whereby trade can cross international borders as we have all done VERY well from it.
 
The way things are at the moment with the currency exchange, it seems that even petrol is cheaper, or at least on a par with fuel here. I'm heading up to my parents in Belfast tomorrow for Christmas (From Cork) and normally I would fill up in Dublin to avoid having to refuel at UK prices. That doesn't make sense anymore - at 87.9 p per llitre of petrol, it is the now the equivalent of 94/95 cents per litre. Nothing in it really, so I might as well trundle all the way there on a single tank and refuel at the end.
 
Another huge saving is on baby's milk. Our little lad will only drink the ready-made SMA Gold. It costs £1.90 in supermarkets in the North but €3.69 for the exact same product in the Republic. This is getting on for an 85% saving on each carton!!!

Saved over €25 on 16 cartons of it recently...
 
It has been widely speculated that the UK interest rates will drop further at the next meeting of the Bank of England and that the £ will fall beneath the €. It is going to be crazy to look at a UK price and then knock a few percent off the number to get a Euro price.
 
Anyone who was in The Quays car park yesterday could be forgiven for thinking they'd never left the republic!! I was there an hour before opening and it was almost full of southern registrations. The queues for Sainsburys were huge and they had a one way system in operation for the off licence.

Well worth the trip from Wexford though but definatly do your homework first.
 
terrontress said:
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Ireland has benefited massively from globalisation. When Barclays, Rabobank, Deutsche Bank have opened in the IFSC to take advantage of favourable conditions, they have taken money from the British, Dutch and German exchequer. The wages they have paid have fed straight into the Irish exchequer through direct and indirect tax take, be it income tax, VAT, VRT, DIRT or even stamp duties.

This same system has allowed people to cross European borders freely. Countries who have not benefited from the EU to the extent of Ireland have been putting up with it for years. Finnish buying vodka in Talinn. Austrians having their teeth done in Slovakia.

I think the Irish government should be happy that they are part of a system whereby trade can cross international borders as we have all done VERY well from it.
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Exactly - I thought free movement of goods and services was supposed to be a core tenet of the european 'experiment', I guess that applies only when it suits...another broken promise from the eurocrats.
 
I bumped into a lady in the ILAC centre on Saturday. She was from Dundalk and had got up at the crack of dawn to travel to Dublin to do her Christmas shopping. On principle she wouldn't shop in the North as she believed money should be kept in the South. I had to admire her stance.
 
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