Shopping in Northern Ireland?

[ifk101]

Great deals on newspapers in NI.

I bought a couple of the Irish Sunday papers yesterday and I noticed it costs €2.5 in Ireland for the Sunday Independent but in Northern Ireland only £1.4.

[Ambaiste!]

My sister lived in Aberdeen for years and going over there was brilliant for shopping because the exchange rate was fixed at an old rate. Basically, the fixed rate would be at 67p to a euro but at the time the real rate was more like 80p to a euro. It was great. Everything over there was ridiculously cheaper, CD's being the major one.

Prices in the airport had a fixed rate. Say something was £2 in the airport, they'd have it priced as €3 if you paid in euros.

But the real exchange rate meant that £2 actually cost you €2.50. You see? 50c saving there alone.

So you paid €3 at the old (fixed) rate instead of €2.50 at the new (real) rate and you reckon you've made a saving of 50c?

Sounds like they saw you coming, frank!

[dcfcsteve]

The one guarantee with currencies is that they fluctuate.

You would think the Republic's government had no memory. Shoppers have been flowing in different directions across the border for as long as I can remember. It wasn't so long ago the queue was in the other direction - particularly for petrol. The border is littered on either side with the remnants of petrol stations that lead a may-fly existence, cashing-in whilst the border traffic went in their favour before dying as the tide turned. Where were the Ministerial quibbles whilst the South hoovered up petrol money form the north for the last five years ?

Inevitably at some point the pound will strengthen again. The Euro will probably weaken outright at some point as well. When that happens I look forward to Irish government Ministers manning the border and telling Northern Shoppers to go back and do the patriotic thing by shopping in their own communities. I mean, they couldn't po0ssibly be being hypocrital could they....

Meanwhile - a senior government minister continues the last Taioseach's habit of promoting the English footballing industry at the expense of the Irish one. Patriotism my arse.

[Newryrep]

The one guarantee with currencies is that they fluctuate.

You would think the Republic's government had no memory. Shoppers have been flowing in different directions across the border for as long as I can remember. It wasn't so long ago the queue was in the other direction - particularly for petrol. The border is littered on either side with the remnants of petrol stations that lead a may-fly existence, cashing-in whilst the border traffic went in their favour before dying as the tide turned. Where were the Ministerial quibbles whilst the South hoovered up petrol money form the north for the last five years ?

Inevitably at some point the pound will strengthen again. The Euro will probably weaken outright at some point as well. When that happens I look forward to Irish government Ministers manning the border and telling Northern Shoppers to go back and do the patriotic thing by shopping in their own communities. I mean, they couldn't po0ssibly be being hypocrital could they....

Meanwhile - a senior government minister continues the last Taioseach's habit of promoting the English footballing industry at the expense of the Irish one. Patriotism my arse.

Aye Steve, at least we can/could argue that it was our patriotic duty to undermine the state we were in

[superfrank]

So you paid €3 at the old (fixed) rate instead of €2.50 at the new (real) rate and you reckon you've made a saving of 50c?

I never actually bought anything in Aberdeen airport but, if I had, I would've paid in sterling because it was cheaper.

[DeNiro]

Anyone being in Newry recently? Are the bargains still good? Haven't been there in a while. A friend told me last week that he heard Sainsbury's are charging for parking now, anyone else hear that?

[holidaysong]

They are charging for parking alright but if you spend £10 or more parking is free.. My mother was up there shopping yesterday and seemed happy enough when she was telling me about some of the savings.

[Royal rover]

i borrowed 18000 of the bank in late 2006 - i moved back to england in 2007 - it's torture paying these b**tards back now -all my loan repayments are in sterling ,

[dahamsta]

What's that got to do with the price of eggs?

[Royal rover]

What's that got to do with the price of eggs?

it was made in reference to the current exchange rate between STG and EURO- hence i borrowed in euro not expecting sterling to fluctuate,

[Longfordian]

The mother goes up to Asda in Enniskillen a good bit, she's very happy with the savings to be made particularly on things like household stuff, meat and drink. She also feels a bit guilty about it when she hears about local supermarkerts struggling though she mostly shops in Aldi or Lidl anyway which are thriving.

[dahamsta]

it was made in reference to the current exchange rate between STG and EURO- hence i borrowed in euro not expecting sterling to fluctuate,

Ah right. Well, to be fair, "rates may go down as well as up". The currency market is as always has been a very bad bet.

[ArdeeBhoy]

As far as I'm concerned, it is keeping the money 'in' Ireland !!

[Macy]

Still don't think the savings were really worth the petrol and (more especially for me) time from Wickla. However, if we're within striking distance of the border we normally stock up. Apart from the obvious beer, the baby stuff is a lot cheaper (milk, nappies, wipes), and also hayfever tablets are only a fraction of the price. We'd normally do a general shop while we're there too, as it is much cheaper.

Conscience is 100% clear - we support local shops like the butcher, newsagent (basically a convenience store) and chemist (bar the hayfever tablets). The supermarket shop is just moving from one multinational (tesco) to another (ASDA/ Walmart). If Coughlan et al want us to do our patriotic duty, they should tackle the continuing profiteering of the multiples in this state.

[EAFC_rdfl]

was up home last week, got myself 110 euro (in tesco down here) worth of drink for 45 euro in asda strabane, absolute madness. also they are going euro for pound from early december til Christmas, then the mayhem will really begin

[DeNiro]

was up home last week, got myself 110 euro (in tesco down here) worth of drink for 45 euro in asda strabane, absolute madness. also they are going euro for pound from early december til Christmas, then the mayhem will really begin

Where did you hear that?

[brendy_éire]

Where did you hear that?

Loads of places in Derry already doing it.

[holidaysong]

places in Newry are doing it already too.

[old git]

check out asda here ..... http://www.asda.co.uk/corp/home.html

2 cases beer bottles for £ 16 stg usually go 3 for £ 20 stg for christmas ... smirnoff ice / wkd / bacardi brezzers 2 large bottles for £ 5

also was looking at prices for a good new printer for my computer argos here approx 110 euro same printer in north less than £ 44 stg

i'd have no problem shopping up north at those prices and even more now when they start matching stg for euro

[gilberto_eire]

You'd think the Goverment would finally get the finger out and drop excise and VAT to British levels, the amount of money leaving the country at a time like this is disgraceful

Was all well and good during the boom times when people were happy to over pay but the penny has dropped and it's now costing the economy even more