’Tis the season to shop up north
‘We’ve saved €200 on perfumes alone’
THE Christmas cross-border shopping surge has started early this year with shrewd shoppers heading north to take advantage of the savings.
Brexit turmoil has dropped the value of the sterling, with the pound hitting lows of around €1.13 in recent weeks.
In Newry, Co. Down, the manager of the Buttercrane Shopping Centre, Peter Murray, told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Buttercrane can report an uplift in shoppers from ROI in the past few weeks as all the uncertainty over Brexit has strengthened the euro against the pound. Coming just in advance of Christmas when there is generally an increase in Dublin shoppers making the trip to Newry, this makes the short trip up the road even better value.’
One couple who travelled from their home in Ardfinnan, Co. Tipperary is Susan and Andy O’Mahoney. According to Susan, they would have spent closer to €1,000 back home for their £500 Christmas shop in Newry.
‘Unless you’re going to do a big shop there’s no point in coming up because you’re not going to save,’ they said. ‘We’ve got our two girls their Lady
Dublin sisters Lisa and Miranda Comerford and their cousin Caitriona Dyllan sniffed out impressive deals at the nearby Boulevard shopping outlet in Banbridge, with Caitriona saying she saved Millions perfumes for £22 each and there was a Hugo Boss fragrance on offer for £19.99. We’ve easily saved €200 on perfumes alone.’ hundreds on branded clothes for her son. ‘The runners my son wanted are €120 and I got a pair almost identical to them for £36 in the outlet,’ she said.
Louth couple Ray O’Brien and Rebecca Brogan regularly make the short journey from Clogherhead for the savings in Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
Their four-year-old daughter Colleen is coeliac and the gluten-free range in Sainsbury’s is usually what they’re after.
But Friday was a particularly special day for the family as they were collecting their wedding rings in H Samuel jewellers in the Buttercrane Shopping Centre.