Well the euro has devalued a fair bit due to inflation

we need more Dunnes Stores!

The last thing anywhere needs is wall mart coming in

Believe me, mate…you don’t want Asda to come in…

I do want Asda to come, hence my conspicuous use of the phrase “We need Asda to shake things up a little.”

Incredibly short sighted, if you think Tesco, Aldi and Lidl destroy small indigenous business then just wait and see what wall mart do if their uk brand asda came in! Also from my experience in the uk are horrible shops with poor own brand produce meaning I’d still avoid despite the cheap branded goods.

If you’d avoid it, fair enough. I wouldn’t.

I’d welcome competitive pricing, a decent range of products and a cheaper shopping experience.

I’m sure I’m not alone in not wanting to be ripped off by the supermarkets. Give me the option to choose.

Well, in reference to own branded products, that area is seeing a big change from the UK supermarkets perspective. Tesco have recently changed their branding of their value range, think they call it Tesco Everyday now or something like that. This was in response to Sainsbury’s, who have a more upbeat approach to their value brand, more attractive packaging (Tesco Value had a fairly iconic design, but for all the wrong reasons).

As cheap as Asda is, their own brand stuff is very mundane. Yes, you’re right…they’d certainly shake up the market but I honestly believe Musgraves and Dunnes do offer good value in comparison to the likes of Sainsburys (feckin’ rip off!!) Budgens sell SuperValu own brand stuff in their shops over here and my friends swear by the quality of their food, they didn’t even realise SuperValu was a shop in Ireland.

Asda go as far as having an in-store radio station…not sure would I like to see things like that happen in Ireland.

Oh I see, you don’t live or shop in Ireland but would still rather I didn’t have ready access to Asda.

Gee, thanks!

No need for sarcasm, just expressing my opinion. Thing is I actually do return to Ireland quite often each month for work so I see the differences more so than most folk. I just think they’ll make the situation worse in my opinion, I have seen Asda destroy regional towns in England with their ‘out of town’ model, more so than any other large supermarket and now they want to change store dimensions to make these shops larger?! Policy doesn’t make sense to me, they complain that the British high street is dying yet they go ahead and do the one thing that will kill it off even further.

But I suppose at the end of the day, its about getting value for money. For me, shopping around is the best bet…certainly works for me whether I’m in Ireland or England. When I lived in Cork, we used to have a lovely local greengrocer who had very low prices for fruit and veg, and even used to give us free stuff. My mam goes to the local mart and picks up really cheap fruit and veg aswell. I know not everyone has time or money to invest going to a different shop for each thing but thats how I do it and it serves me well.

They’ve been going on about this death of the small shop thing in the UK for well over 20 years.

And yet you’re still able to use them.

So it can’t be all bad.

Big supermarkets give people a choice, people can use them, or not. They can shop locally, or not.

If little shops do go to the wall it’s because people care more about the money in their pocket. That is the way of things. Live with it.

John! I wouldn’t imagine many people care where Tescos source their food! It’s all about value for money these days!

The vast majority of Tesco own brand products are Irish – check for yourself next time. All their meat has the bord bia logo to indicate this and all their own brand milk has the national dairy council logo! The same can’t be said for other stores. Superquinn who go on about supporting Irish farmers don’t actually do that if you look at their own brand milk – no national dairy council logo – the same goes for Dunnes. Tesco are by far the cheapest all-round store out there that offers Irish products at competitive prices.

Supermarkets will charge what people are willing to pay.

This is tesco not lidl or aldi. Would say tesco is better than dunnes or supervalue but aldi or lidl blows them out of the water for value.

ah but Begrudgy aldi and lidl arent as cheap as when they first arrived. that was an introductory offer! i dont know where they get their bananas from but theyre rotten!