ALDI for Callan - again!!

foxcoverteddy

No one can miss or ignore the speed Aldi's store is going up, at the same time Supervalu appear to be doing things that perhaps should have been done many moons ago, though some of the projects appear to be weird, but nonetheless it is all improvement.
Since the horsemeat scare I have decided there is no way I will buy meat or things containing meat from a supermarket, n o it is down to John Murphy in West St, I think he is a brilliant butcher and honest as to what he sells.
We are lucky to have butcher in Callan, come on give him all the support you can.
The same goes with Billy and clare Keogh, you will not buy a better loaf than theirs, supermarket bread might be cheaper, it will not taste the same as a genuine craft baker's bread, again if we lose Billy and Clare their will be nothing to replace them. Even the shop in Bridge St is classic.
So despite having a choice do not forget the best Butcher and Baker in the county, if you want all three the M oth in the flame in bennettsbridge is great for candles, so there you are, have a super day.

Autosport

So you wont be buying meat or bread from Aldi then ;-)

foxcoverteddy

Autosport, one must never say never, immortal words can be the bane of the righteous. I am saying I will endeavour to support Billy Keogh and John Murphy as much as possible.
We do a menu for the week and will buy the meat, though we might not stick religously to it, from John, Bread wise one does have to be practical, sometimes a change is as good as a rest, or why did I buy that?
So if you see me with an Aldi or Lidl's, Superquinn, though the later's bothers me to the extent as to who has squeezed it before, having watched squeezers going round with no gloves.
I am far from perfect, so the answer could be maybe. Have a nice day.

foxcoverteddy

Apparently we have another butcher in Callan, well Westcourt over on the estate, has anyone been and tried etc.
Aldi is going along nicely, however since the horse and pig DNA in burgers I can't bring myself to buy any meat products from a supermarket, did they test sausages? No John Murphy makes his own and burgers, guaranteed pure Beef.
As much as Aldi and supervalu advertise how good their Irish meat is, no way will I be tempted to buy them.
Did I tell you about Blackwater Yoghurts, one would take them with such a name as truly Irish, definately west Cork, no come from Spain, say no more.

Dan Jaman

Utter nonsense. Horse is good for you, get it down you.
Neigh?

foxcoverteddy

nein Dan, if I want horse go and buy, we used to have a horse meat shop near whhere i lived, great for my cat she loved it, it looked very tender and not fatty, but i still don't want someone sticking it in my food unbeknown to me.
Seeing the fat that comes out of the beef one wonder's, our friends across the channel apparently eat it, gallop over and see providing it isn't reining.

foxcoverteddy

they are starting on the landscaping by the looks of things this morning, it seems we might have Aldi before the end of the month.
However I am very sad for the staff of supervalu, they are brilliant, though I suspect some are getting worried by Aldi, however, why has the intervention of Aldi made supervalu suddenly decide to update and change things around.
If Aldi had not decided to come to Callan one presumes nothing would have happened in the store, which is a bit disrespectful to the regular customers.
Without us there would not be a store, when it was decided to move everything why couldn't they have produced a map showing us where to find most things?
I refuse to buy any frozen meat products, well as least we have John Murphy, in many cases it works out cheaper to make your own, at least you know what is in it.
Have a nice day

Dan Jaman

I don't know about you, FCT, but I'm looking forward to my Aldi-neighburgers. I hope they've shorn the hides properly, as nothing sticks in your teeth worse than an untrimmed ponytail.

Autosport

But it shouldnt effect Supervalu too much as in other towns/cities they have both stores and both do well, Carrick on Suir is an example of such a place. It might make people go to Callan now. Variety is the spice of life

Cabaal

Autosport wrote: »

But it shouldnt effect Supervalu too much as in other towns/cities they have both stores and both do well, Carrick on Suir is an example of such a place. It might make people go to Callan now. Variety is the spice of life

Without a doubt it will have an affect on their business, it won't however kill it completely but it will have an affect none the less

foxcoverteddy

The problem appears to be much wider than originally thought, convenience foods will have suffered as a result, whilst there are some genuine companies who is going to chance buying meat products from supermarkets.
The answer is go and buy your meat from the local butcher, apart from knowing what is in the dish you will get satisfaction from cooking it yourself.
Aldi, Tesco, indeed all of the supermarkets have been taken for a ride with this one, it wasn't their fault.
What else might give rise to closer examination, sausages perhaps that come from a factory, what about so called irish chicken concoctions, is it made with true irish chicken or are we getting chicken from other sources which might not have the same safety standards, it comes in frozen is worked on and then sold as irish.
Time to say we support Irish and deserve to know it is.
Pigs butchered come in from another country and then cut and packed here and sold as Irish, not true Irish.
At one time a well known jam maker was selling marmalade with made from pure irish fruit, we didn't and still don't grow oranges.
Check what you buy and ask if you are not sure.
For Dans sake don't let them sadlle you with rubbish and pull the blinkers over your eyes.
Just going to trot round to the butcher

foxcoverteddy

Thank gtoodness for little Ireland bringing the great horsemeat scandal to the fore, it seems all the supermarkets have been ripped off, yes evenb our Aldi.
Nevertheless, no one was to blame, except perhaps the internal audit of these companies for not checking properly, do they check suasages?
I know we badly need Aldi, our other supermarket is trying and well it needed too but the shining example in Callan is your local butcher John Murphy, you get what it says it is, he makes his own burger's and sausages which are fair value, it is the same with Billy Keogh's bread, what is in the cheap bread sold by supermarkets? Has any one analysed them.
Well happy shopping, keep one eye ion Aldi it won't be long.

Dan Jaman

I've been to Czechoslovakia and never seen checked sausages.
Do the sausages in Bray have a little donkey in them?

foxcoverteddy

it is a mystery what goes into sausages Dan, well some, trouble is many are blinkered as to what they eat, so people should stop nagging and go to John Murphy.

Shelflife

FCT your last few posts you have been bigging up your local butcher and baker. Are you getting worried for their survival with aldi on the horizon?

You may know that they provide a superior product but a lot of people just assume that cheapest is good value.

I hope that I'm wrong and and that these local small retailers survive.

Odyssey 2005

foxcoverteddy wrote: »

it is a mystery what goes into sausages Dan, well some, trouble is many are blinkered as to what they eat, so people should stop nagging and go to John Murphy.

Dont think you are correct there. John Murphy does not make his own saussages. He does however make his own burgers. He will do well in Callan with or wifhout Aldi as will Billy K. The shower that will suffer however is Supsr Valu. They had it to good for too long. They treated the customer with contempt and made a fortune. They objected to everything that was to come into the town and the people of the area suffered because of it. It is only since they started building Aldi they have statred to clean up the shop.
Tesco,Lidl and Aldi could have been here years ago with all the associated local jobs. I for one hope its too late for SV and am sure Aldi will thrive. I know I will help them.

Autosport

Ok i'm getting confused here, i thought you wanted Aldi and then your telling us to go to the local butcher and baker, Dont Aldi bake their own bread???

Sky King

Autosport wrote: »

Dont Aldi bake their own bread???

No that's Lidl.

Autosport

Sky King wrote: »

No that's Lidl.

Opps

Dan Jaman

Sky King wrote: »

No that's Lidl.

Even at that, I'm not sure how much actual 'baking' goes on - in some of these setups they just bring in the ready-made stuff in an lob it in the oven; so it's not like real baking from scratch.

foxcoverteddy

I have been a supporter of Billy K all along, if you go back I go as far to say that he is probably one of the best baker's in the South East, it is the one luxury that is affordable in my opinion. Even if Aldi did bake their own bread nothing would compare to Billy K.
Even as a child I would buy fresh baked bread from our local bakery, hot with butter, wow nothing like it.
John Murphy, read back I have been a supporter all along, Aldi or Lidl do not have a butcher, it is all pre-packed, not that there is anything wrong with pre-packed but it is not the same as walking into the butcher and asking for
say a fiver's worth of best mince, or spare ribs or even sausages.
Okay Supervalu have their own butchers, similar to Superquin, Nigel in Callan is very helpful, but I still prefer John Murphy, do you remember when Callan had three butcher's?
Anyone who lives down near Mullinahone would buy there meat from, is it O'Briens?, all of these little butchers are a treasure.
I do agree Supervalu have not been fair with the people of Callan, though I always try to make the point that the staff have been brilliant, you cannot knock the fruit and veg section, the turn over will almost ensure you get fresh, well as fresh as Musgraves supply.
I do have a certain sadness when shopping at Caulfields in Loughboy, if only our Supervalu was as good, the current revamp is long overdue though in some respects it is too little too late, however with Aldi a lot of people might just stay in Callan instead of going to Kilkenny or Clonmel or come to it Carrick, which does have both Aldi and Lidl and a fine Supervalu.
I guess the retail food business is like what happened to HMV, times changed from the original concept, the small grocer has been overtaken by progress, well Supervalu buy through what is a Cash and Carry style set-up, they cannot compete on prices.
I am wondering if the stores actually owned by Musgraves sell at a discount to like what we have in Callan.
I forget Musgraves are now a multi national company but that is another story.
Have a nice day. When's M&S coming?

nhg

Its nice to see that we now have an opening date - 18th of April

Lets hope that with the opening of Aldi that it will bring/keep the customers in Callan.

Dan Jaman

Of the two German supermarkets, I would have preferred a Lidl, but an Aldi is fine. The presence of an Aldi means I won't be going to KK as much and the Aldi is within cycling range come the spring and summer.
Two months off, eh?
I'll be drumming my fingers waiting.

foxcoverteddy

Yes, we are looking forward to April, sad to say some of supervalu prices will look way out compared to Aldi. It may well force supervalu to make a few changes to their pricing, at times it is difficult to know what price one is paying, some of the shelf stacking leaves much to be desired.
By the way you were quite right John gets his sausages from Kilmacow, thank goodness it is not kilmahorse, sorry about that.
Hopefully callan will see a great improvement in trade all round, as Dan said it will cut down the trips to Kilkenny or where ever.
I hear people complaining about the new trolly park,I must admit I have always found it a bind pushing a trolley down the ramp and usually end up in the road?

foxcoverteddy

I think most shoppers have been to an Aldi store, so what we get in Callan will not be a surprise.
I say this because whilst both are food stores the method of selling is completely different.
Supervalu is traditional in it's approach, almost like the old fashioned grocers of days gone by, their cost are escalated by the fact that they need staff to keep the shelves stcked, taking items from packaging and placing them on a shelf is time consuming, added to which the items already on the shelf must be moved so that the newer items are not in the front, sometimes this does not happen.
Aldi go for a simpler stacking method, the whole box normally goes on the shelf, which requires considerably less staff, therefore unit costs are reduced, you the consumer gains.
However, aldi do not sell all of the well known brands, some they do so you can compare like for like. Many products are sold under Bramwell's name, which in most cases are cheaper than the equivalent well known brand.
Because it is cheaper does not infer the product is inferior in any way, you will probably find no difference in the taste or quality.
What may not be public knowledge is that many of the well known names/brands are no longer made by the original firms, obviously the quality will not have been altered.
One example Cadbury chocolate biscuits, made by a firm in the Wirral under licence, other companies have been sold like Kenco coffee, the name is traded, just this week the most famous Ketchup firm Heinz has been sold, and one only has to look on the shelves to see how many products that involves. Everyones favourite sauce HP is or was owned by Heinz.
However we rely on all of these companies to ensure the quality of the food they sell, at the moment the great horsemeat scandal is in the forefront, I read one comment which said is cod cod? Would someone substitue Pollock for Cod, all these things are difficult to guarantee.
Will i save shopping at Aldi, well that really depends on you, it is not necessarily down to what you might save, it is the freedom of choice and that is the most important factor.
Supervalu staff, they are some of the nicest people, friendly and helpful and are always on hand to give advice, Aldi are definately short on that one.
Shopping for food should be exciting, an adventure if you like. but most of all enjoyable.
Foxy

Sky King

That was a good post Foxy.

The reason Aldi are cheaper is because you do things their way. Sure, you mightn't get 6 different types of Pesto or whatever, you just have one brand. But it's the brand which Aldi believes offers the best value for money. And to allude to your own post, this is actually the way it was done in traditional shops years before there were ever supermarkets in Ireland. You just bought the brand that your local shop sold.

And in Aldi you don't stand around chatting as you pack your bags like it's a social event - you turf your stuff into the trolley pronto and get the feck out of the way and get the queue moving! And this suits me grand.

I don't believe that the quality of Aldi products is diminished as a result of their lower costs - this is achieved purely through operational efficiency. I shop in both my local SV and in Aldi and I find it astounding how I can invariably get in and out WAY faster in a shop with a fraction of the staff numbers! The experience in Aldi is so much more straightforward... AND people with laden trolleys let you skip ahead of them in Aldi if you only have one or two items... that never happens in SV.

I simply do not understand why Irish supermarkets don't adopt at least some of the business model of Lidl and Aldi. I would pledge my allegiance to an Irish owned chain in a second if they started running it this way and axing their costs as a result, but until they do I don't see why i should shell out my hard earned cash to subsidise their operational inefficiencies.

Supervalu staff, they are some of the nicest people, friendly and helpful and are always on hand to give advice, Aldi are definately short on that one.

I totally disagree - I find the staff in my local Aldi both professional and friendly.

foxcoverteddy

Sky King think you really did hit the nail on the head, straight to the point, on reflection you are right about the staff in aldi, they are professional and never uncourteous.
I agree with the fact that if an Irish owned supermarket would adopt the same attitude, they would get full support, yet I fail to understand why not.
It is like cooking you have to love food, the same goes for working in a supermarket, if you don't take an interest in what you are selling, you are of little use to the customer's.
Thanks again I found the post very informative, Foxy

Cabaal

Aldi and Lidi are by far faster then the rest of the supermarkets when it comes to all other supermarkets with the exception of one!

Superquinn, I love the superscan service they offer, you can walk into SuperQuinn on the 24th December (and i have) do your shopping with superscan and walk passed all the massive queues stretching down the isles as you walk to the superscan checkout.

At the most I've only ever experienced a queue of maybe 2-3 people infront of me at the superscan checkout, but that generally equals a delay of maybe 1min so I'm not pushed

Love the service and love how I can know the total of what I'm buying before I even hit the checkout, great for trying to keep within a set amount.

I actually get a kick out of shopping with it when I see all the other checkouts with massive queues, :P

Sky King

Never heard of that before. Sounds good though.

The location of SQ just doesn't suit me at all so I never shop there.

foxcoverteddy

The countdown has started for the opening of Aldi, to think of the sheer pleasure of not having to go to Kilkenny or Carrick to have a choice.
It is a pity Superquin is not in the frame, at one stage it was a brilliant alternative to Dunnes.

Fergal has a lot to answer selling the stores, though at the start there was not really much competition, i don't think Aldi or Lidl had arrived. However it was easy to tell when Fergal was coming to town, the stock was displayed to it's full potential, not suggesting it isn't now, but the place had a buzz about it, Fergal shaking everyones hand as they entered the store.

If I am in market cross I will pop in for old times sake, but it has lost that sparkle, pity a UK group didn't take them on and expand, but that is too late now or is it?