Sweets, booze, mince pies - and headache tablets. Róisín Ingle joins the exodus from Rip-Off Ireland to cut-price Newry
It's another dull winter's day in Newry, Co Down, but close your eyes and you could be in Dublin, so thick is the air with accents from the capital. Open them again and you'll marvel at the price of everything from beer to biscuits in this frantically busy supermarket. Something tells us we are not in Rip-Off Ireland any more.
As she draws nearer the till, a dark-haired woman leads her family in the trolley conga, a celebratory dance being performed all over the shop. One trolley is piled high with boxes of biscuits and tins of sweets. Another is crammed with cases of beer. Still another holds items such as shampoo and washing powder, detergent and air freshener. I'm still awaiting the nod from Sainsbury's management to allow me to talk to customers about their frenzied trip North and so cannot ask the woman how many people will share the eight large tins of Quality Street she has just bought. She hands over hundreds of euro to the woman at the till. With up to 50 per cent savings on groceries, especially alcohol, sweets and biscuits, she has also saved hundreds of euro. The family depart. Another one immediately takes their place.
After a few minutes I get the all-clear from a store manager who has become something of a media star in recent weeks as television crews and reporters have camped out in the supermarket to record the conspicuous consumption. The first couple to catch my eye have travelled from Co Meath.
Just how much booze have they bought? "We are having a Christmas party," explains Nicola Walsh, who is here with her husband, Austin. "It's not all for us," she is keen to point out.
There are cases of beer stacked neatly and bottle after bottle of good wine. There are numerous bottles of spirits, including toffee vodka, and at the bottom of the trolley a couple of six-packs of alcopops. There is also a bumper-sized box of headache tablets on the conveyor belt, a purchase which will no doubt come in handy. The whole lot comes to almost €340. The young couple reckon they have saved €200. Nicola says it's not just food and drink either, pointing to her smart boots, which she got in New Look for around €35. They are selling at €45 in the Northside Shopping Centre in Dublin. Rip-Off Ireland foiled again.
THE HORDES HAVE done their homework. Samantha Bermingham, from Navan, came up last year, but the off-licence section was so packed she couldn't face the scrum and returned home empty-handed.
"I came earlier this year," she says, filling up her trolley with drink and sweets.
"You could well afford to be an alcoholic at these prices," says another lady at another till, who asks not to be named.
Jackie Carrick, from Santry in Dublin, has come with her mother and sister and knows exactly what she is looking for. They were among the first waiting for the store doors to open at 8.30a.m. They did the first half of their shopping - the "alco-shop" - before going over the road for breakfast. They are back for the second leg which, after a cursory glance in their trolleys, can be roughly labelled toiletries and miscellaneous.
Jackie knows she is saving loads on washing powder and toilet rolls and her favourite shower gel, which she doesn't buy in Dublin because it is too expensive at almost €2 per bottle more than the price she will pay here.
"And sweets are great value," she says. "Although all their sweets are practically gone." The Southern-registration trolley-pushers have been hoovering up the cut-price confectionery, but not to worry, the shelves are re-stocked every afternoon.
Here are some mouth-watering statistics: this branch of Sainsbury's has sold more tinned confectionery than any other store in the company in the last few weeks; and only two of the stores across the UK have sold more mince pies. Around 60 per cent of its pre-Christmas trade is accounted for by cross-Border shoppers.
"It is clear," says regional business manager Conor McVeigh, "that the price of drinks, confectionery and other traditional seasonal fare has struck a note with customers North and South - and I am very confident that this will be our biggest year ever for cross-Border trade."
The shop is currently offering a generous 73-cent-to-the-pound rate, so it's no wonder thousands are heading North. On the morning's Enterprise train from Dublin, one guard says he has heard that some places in the town are offering euro-for-pound rates. This rumour flies through the train like a Dubliner through a Newry supermarket. Unfortunately, engine failure means the train's progress is not so rapid. Pensioners availing of free travel sigh as they clutch empty bags on wheels which they intend to fill up in the Quays and Buttercrane shopping centres. When the train eventually makes it to the town, two hours late, one of the intrepid shoppers dashes off to the bustling market to buy tinfoil and Clingfilm in bulk. Another has come for "a little shop because I did my big shop here already". "But," she adds as she hurries off, "I will probably end up doing another big shop."
At the Winemark off-licence in the Buttercrane Centre, staff members are bemused and exhausted in equal measure by the Southern visitors.
"One of them was banging on the door at 10-to-nine wanting to be let in first," says Teresa Grant.
"They go down to Marks & Spencer and get a trolley and then come in here and fill it up," says Catriona McKee. "They are probably saving €10 on every bottle of spirits. We've had people from Limerick, Cork, Galway and Wexford - they are coming from way beyond the Border".
AND IT'S NOT just food and drink. In McKnights toy shop, around the corner from the Newry branch of Dunnes Stores, all toys are half price, which means this season's must-have Bratz dolls are flying off the shelves at €10 less than the €22 price-tag in the South.
But not everyone is here just for the savings. In a car-park Bridget Woods, from Dundalk, is packing 20 selection boxes, presents for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, into the boot of her daughter's car. She has done her Christmas shopping in Newry for years. She likes the journey, "the tradition of it all". She is amazed by the number of Southern shoppers this year.
"The place is black with them," she says. "And the amount of drink they have in their trolleys is unbelievable."
It's expected that right up until Christmas Eve Southern-registration cars will clog the streets and car-parks of Newry. Locals may quietly curse them for, as one taxi driver puts it, "taking over our town", but the money pouring in must be some consolation. And for the cross-Border shoppers, an hour spent sitting in a three-mile tailback with fellow Christmas consumers is a small price to pay for a boot full of bargains. And they will never run out of sweets for the journey home.