Beacon Shopping Centre Impressions

Supercell

I thought I'd check this out today as my normal Cornelscourt Shopping Centre exit on the M50 is closed and I loath Tesco's and this is supposed to have Dunnes as an anchor tenet.

Parking is free at the moment and had no problems finding space even though was there on a Saturday afternoon.

On emerging for the carpark its a weird sensation.
The apartments seem to be very close together, theres no green space in the middle, don't think I'd like to live there at all. It looks a bit like a bunch of mobile homes stacked on top of each other with a carpark in the middle and a fancy facade put over it, not a place for familys for sure.

Dunnes there is run by a mad person I think. Nothing matches up at all, everything is everywhere! There is no dairy isle..wait..there is four..in each corner..get your milk in one corner, get your cheese in another , get your butter..well I never figured that out!!
The veg is mostly prepacked and that what isnt is close to its sell by date - the locals dont seem to do cooking.
Its the weirdest supermarket I ever visited, there seems to be utterly totally no floor plan, theres no rhyme or reason to what is where. There's loads of convenience food and the fresh stuff is close to its sell by date (do the Beacon residents only do convenience food?).
The range of fresh food is very poor, I couldnt find sweet potatoes, red cabbage, green grapes, cheap tomatoes (only available were vine and baby overpriced stuff), butter, bramly apples or bean sprouts.

As a positive there was a few very overdressed girls shopping there but thats about as positive as I can get about the place.

I'll never be back there, the whole place is all thats wrong about 00's Ireland encapsulated in one small area.

Alun

Longfield wrote: »

I thought I'd check this out today as my normal Cornelscourt Shopping Centre exit on the M50 is closed ...

Errm, there's always the N11 It's not as if Cornelscourt has suddenly become cut off from the rest of the world or anything.

Mr Magnolia

Moved, hope this is the correct region.

You may have more discussion on this topic here Longfield.

Feel free to send it back as you see fit

Fratton Fred

Longfield wrote: »

There's loads of convenience food and the fresh stuff is close to its sell by date

and that is different to other Dunnes stores? I find Dunnes terrible for selling things the day they go out of date.

As for Beacon residents, they are all droids, they must be to live in those cube shaped flats:D

islay

I live in the Cubes and I must say I HATE the Dunnes! It has actually slightly improved since it first opened. I completely agree with you about the lack of fresh food and weird layout but my biggest bug bear is the very unhelpful rude staff especially the managers!!!

As for portacabin look thats what you get when you live on a building site. In the apartment areas their is a few "green" areas.

But on the I hate Supermarkets thing why not try the lovely refurbished Superquinn in Ballinteer.

MoominPapa

islay wrote: »

But on the I hate Supermarkets thing why not try the lovely refurbished Superquinn in Ballinteer.

Because, except for the fish counter, its as bad if not worse then every other supermarket in the area. I was there 6 o'clock friday evening a couple of weeks ago and they had no chickens and I was seriously in the mood for a well seasoned crispy skinned bird with a lemon up its ar$e. And they have pillars in the middle of quite a few aisles and its dark and dingy

As for the Beacon I was massively underwhelmed by the O'Briens thats finally opened. The wine selection is fine, but the beers are pathetic and got annoyed by the cheek of them to suggest the miserable selection stuck down one end of a fridge was a "World Beer" section. The selection in the Dunnes across the car park is better, no joke. No decent Irish bottled beers, the only real english beers were Fullers London Pride and Honey Dew and the rest was the usual German/Belgium suspects or crap, only there cause it was in bottles. They either don't care about beer or are so clueless that this is the best they can do.
I'm really worried about the smaller, independent shops like Bin No 9, Deveneys, that one on the Kilmacud road(?) that all sell a decent selection of beers.
Boo to O'Briens

islay

You go on about O'Briens and Independents not being able to survive.

1) O'Briens is an independent
2)Did you say to anybody about the Beer selection?

I was trying to suggest alternatives to OP Dunnes opinions!!!!!!!! Not suggest thta every person goesand shops in Superquinn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dogmatix

New superquinn in ballinteer is nice, the new layout is excellent but just one minor quibble - all those browns and pastels etc does tend to make the place feel a little dark.

M&S in dundrum is not bad for food either.

whiskeyman

dogmatix wrote: »

M&S in dundrum is not bad for food either.

It can be horrific if you're there on the wrong day. They seem to only get shipments in once a week, and many times I've gone to find the majority of fresh foods / meats empty. Sometimes a good few of the aisles have feck all in them.
Mind you, when it's fully stocked, it's great.

dogmatix

Aye - their stock management is very bad. And I think their own brand bread is not nice, their white bread can sometimes taste like a cross between a madeira cake and aeroboard. But their fruit and veg are great, when they have them of course.

I'm thinking that Superquinn, ballinteer is the best suprmarket in D16.

whiskeyman

dogmatix wrote: »

I'm thinking that Superquinn, ballinteer is the best suprmarket in D16.

yeah, I've always admired Superquinn, and that branch especially. Everything, from the produce to the staff and top notch.
They do a killer apple cake loaf thingie that's just gorgeous with ice cream too! *drool*

MoominPapa

islay wrote: »

You go on about O'Briens and Independents not being able to survive.

1) O'Briens is an independent
2)Did you say to anybody about the Beer selection?

I was trying to suggest alternatives to OP Dunnes opinions!!!!!!!! Not suggest thta every person goesand shops in Superquinn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For starters O'Briens is a chain and I said the smaller independent shops, I talked with my feet, and you gave an alternative to Dunnes in the Beacon and I gave reasons why that may not be the answer to the OP.
Oh, sorry, almost forgot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!