Convenience shops....

purplecow1977

Most specifically I bought a small bottle of Lucozade recently for €1.65!!!! Coca Cola 500ml bottles were also priced the same.

So expensive.

F1ngers

That reminds me, must put the price up to €1.75.

I've got to see how high I can charge before people cop on and walk out the door without buying anything.

purplecow1977

F1ngers wrote: »

That reminds me, must put the price up to €1.75.

I've got to see how high I can charge before people cop on and walk out the door without buying anything.

Well I had glanced at the shelf and it said €1.20 but was €1.65 at till and noticed the next time I was in that price on shelf had been put up.

I detect a smart-arse tone to your comment!

Cork_chick_94

I have seen them priced €1.95 in places.

F1ngers

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Well I had glanced at the shelf and it said €1.20 but was €1.65 at till and noticed the next time I was in that price on shelf had been put up.

Different price on shelf/at till, that's a pet hate of mine.

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I detect a smart-arse tone to your comment!

Just a little.

purplecow1977

F1ngers wrote: »

Different price on shelf/at till, that's a pet hate of mine.

Mine too.

Bought a 4 pack of beers (Brahma I think) in a shop on All Ireland Semi Day, price said €4.99, scanned at €5.99 and I mentioned it to the till assistant. I know it was busy, and I know it wasn't specifically his fault, but he was completely rude and said it was a mistake whilst picking up the next person's purchase to scan through!

cerastes

F1ngers wrote: »

Different price on shelf/at till, that's a pet hate of mine.

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Mine too.

Bought a 4 pack of beers (Brahma I think) in a shop on All Ireland Semi Day, price said €4.99, scanned at €5.99 and I mentioned it to the till assistant. I know it was busy, and I know it wasn't specifically his fault, but he was completely rude and said it was a mistake whilst picking up the next person's purchase to scan through!

I've no problem that the prices are, way overpriced, not that I'm happy with that, but I expect it. So I can avoid them for the most part by not shopping there.
My problem is the prices not being charged as they are displayed when its a routine thing and you have to check every single thing all the time, usually them being busy or not having the time to deal with it myself, makes it both difficult and embarrasses the customer into saying nothing. I think they rely on this.
Ive come across it to the extent in a well known convenience shop local to me that Ive all but avoided getting anything off them for the most part as I consider their inability to change pricing tags is potentially suspect of being intentional.

Valetta

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Most specifically I bought a small bottle of Lucozade recently for €1.65!!!! Coca Cola 500ml bottles were also priced the same.

So expensive.

The clue is in your thread title.

rubadub

I thought 1.65 would have been the going rate for lucozade, not that I would ever buy it there, or bars etc.

Last time I got lucozade it was 6x380ml bottle for 2.50 in dunnes, and before that was 6x330ml cans for €2 in dealz. These were warm of course though.

A 380ml bottle in tesco is showing as €1.19 which I guess is cold. 500ml is 1.85

makes it both difficult and embarrasses the customer into saying nothing

Same tatic as pubs, there is a weird tradition of never asking about prices before ordering pints, so they take advantage. And don't go on about the price list, the one at the door is usually well hidden and only lists 16 drinks, only have to list the price of 1 lager. They are meant to have an extensive list inside but I have never seen it expect maybe in a craft beer pub, but even then I don't think it listed every spirit they had.

Lucena

A lot of convenience shops, at least down my neck of the woods, don't list any price at all. I try to take my business elsewhere as much as I can.

GHOST MGG

2 litre of pepsi max in tesco is 1.15 today,in my local convenience store it was 3.05...
Rip off ireland and its best

the groutch

the clue is in the thread title, you are paying for the convenience.

Lucena

@the groutch

I find the absence of prices decidedly inconvenient.

purplecow1977

the groutch wrote: »

the clue is in the thread title, you are paying for the convenience.

I can get the same bottle of luco for €1 in the €2 shop.....suppose it's a bit of an inconvenience to go there especially though.

keithclancy

purplecow1977 wrote: »

I can get the same bottle of luco for €1 in the €2 shop.....suppose it's a bit of an inconvenience to go there especially though.

1 Euro in the 2 Euro shop ... I think you have a case for false advertising there.

rubadub

Most €2 type shops do not have stuff chilled, though 1 I know of does.

L1011

rubadub wrote: »

Most €2 type shops do not have stuff chilled, though 1 I know of does.

All the EuroGiant stores (and Dealz) have fridges; its really only the small independents that don't.

honerbright

keithclancy wrote: »

1 Euro in the 2 Euro shop ... I think you have a case for false advertising there.

Not called the 2 euro shop anymore for that reason

purplecow1977

rubadub wrote: »

Most €2 type shops do not have stuff chilled, though 1 I know of does.

Euro Giant does

purplecow1977

keithclancy wrote: »

1 Euro in the 2 Euro shop ... I think you have a case for false advertising there.

I meant EuroGiant, disaster averted :P

893bet

GHOST MGG wrote: »

2 litre of pepsi max in tesco is 1.15 today,in my local convenience store it was 3.05...
Rip off ireland and its best

I don't understand these posts. Comparing two totally different business models as if they are the same.

rubadub

MYOB wrote: »

All the EuroGiant stores (and Dealz) have fridges; its really only the small independents that don't.

Actually thinking more about I think most I go to do have them, its just that I have never bought anything from their fridges so breeze right by them. I literally cannot remember the last time I bought a full RRP single bar or drink in a newsagent or supermarket on its own for myself. I have been given money by lads in work if I was going to the shop and it pains me to even hand their money over when the mulitpacks are so much better value.

893bet wrote: »

I don't understand these posts. Comparing two totally different business models as if they are the same.

Also the convenience store could well be paying a lot more than €1.15 to the distributor/wholesaler.

Calibos

rubadub wrote: »

Also the convenience store could well be paying a lot more than €1.15 to the distributor/wholesaler.

One day I had another rocket scientist telling me how he could get his milk and coke much cheaper at Tesco's and this person actually knew the exact current price. He left with a "Well, Um, eh...", after I reminded him that our little 'Convenience' store couldn't buy direct from manufacturer like Texco cutting out a middle man and couldn't get the discounts Tesco do when they order their million litres a week and that I hoped he enjoyed sitting in traffic and burning 50c in petrol on his trip to Tesco closing the price gap by that amount.

When he left, I thought about the prices he told me and have been buying our 2L minerals from Tesco ever since. Yes. Cheaper than Musgraves Wholesale. :rolleyes:

rubadub

Calibos wrote: »

Yes. Cheaper than Musgraves Wholesale. :rolleyes:

A friend of mine used to manage a centra and was always offering me a go of his card. I popped into look several times and there was nothing worthwhile buying. He still has a cash & carry card and all they usually get is chicken fillets and just 1 or 2 other things.

I have a good memory for prices and anything of interest was about the same, some were a lot more. Musgraves show some prices online, a lot of other cash & carries require logins to see prices, some customers presumably get better prices.

There was a greengrocer in the same shopping centre as a tesco beside me, he has since closed but did have 2L of milk which was cheaper than tesco own brand. I do not believe he was selling below cost as I saw several people go in and buy about 10 cartons and he had no issue, he would have had a limit if it was below cost. They were presumably stocking cafes. It was national dairy council milk, perhaps sourced from up north. You wold see loads of people going in just for milk, but he made a bit on additional sales.

brian_gall85

rubadub wrote: »

A friend of mine used to manage a centra and was always offering me a go of his card. I popped into look several times and there was nothing worthwhile buying.

This is true on many everyday products where the major Supermarkets are almost always massively cheaper than the wholesalers.

rubadub wrote: »

There was a greengrocer in the same shopping centre as a tesco beside me, he has since closed but did have 2L of milk which was cheaper than tesco own brand. I do not believe he was selling below cost

The fact that he is now closed says otherwise.

rubadub

brian_gall85 wrote: »

The fact that he is now closed says otherwise.

Proves nothing to me. I really doubt he was following the below cost marketing model, it would have made no sense, esp. when I saw people buying up loads of milk, and only milk.

He just did not seem to do much trade. I have seen other shops with this brand of milk too, I presume they just had a wholesaler up north selling it, just like I guess all the €2 type shops have UK or EU wholesalers supplying them.

I see an old post about it, it was 3L 2+50% free so maybe he did get a very good price from the wholesalers.

rubadub wrote: »

Dairy land cuisine milk, 3L (2L +50% extra free) for 1.49, green grocer is next to the chinese takeaway.

Has the national dairy council mark, farmed in the republic. http://www.dairyland.ie/

Some other good prices on fruit & veg.

Fighting Irish

I paid 1.95 before, worth it though

rubadub

Fighting Irish wrote: »

I paid 1.95 before, worth it though

I'm guessing "hangover medicine" thats why they get away with it! warm lucozade is horrible.

johndaman66

the groutch wrote: »

the clue is in the thread title, you are paying for the convenience.

You need to ask the question though are convenience shops any more convenient than your larger supermarkets. It is crazy standing in a queue for ages to buy a bottle of coke but many of these stores are staffed well and all the Tesco and many of the Dunnes now have self scanners and express checkouts which you'd be in and out quicker from than the Applegreens and Centras et al...to me thats what convenience is...

Its manys a time I went into a "convenience store and stood in a queue for ages....not convenience.

brian_gall85

What if you had to drive 20 miles to get to one of these supermarkets. Also Applegreen stores aren't exactly convenience stores.

ben.schlomo

johndaman66 wrote: »

You need to ask the question though are convenience shops any more convenient than your larger supermarkets. It is crazy standing in a queue for ages to buy a bottle of coke but many of these stores are staffed well and all the Tesco and many of the Dunnes now have self scanners and express checkouts which you'd be in and out quicker from than the Applegreens and Centras et al...to me thats what convenience is...

Its manys a time I went into a "convenience store and stood in a queue for ages....not convenience.

Dunnes 'express' tills are anything but express in my experience, usually staffed by people who enjoy long conversations with each other too. My closest Spar is a 2 minute walk, same as Dunnes but they close at 7 or 9, Spar are there til midnight, Tesco is a 20 minute walk, so yes Spar is far more convenient.

johndaman66

brian_gall85 wrote: »

What if you had to drive 20 miles to get to one of these supermarkets. Also Applegreen stores aren't exactly convenience stores.

Fair point and I should have mentioned that in my original post. Doesn't make sense to drive 20 miles to buy a bottle of coke in Tesco/ Dunnes etc. I'm not going to speak for everyone but for me personally I'm just as likely to be passing a Dunnes or Tesco as I am a "convenience shop". I'm not generally a coke or lucozade drinker, hard water from my own well all the way for me, but if I was I would consider myself to have a problem if I was gagging for it that much that nothing would do but I'd have to rush out to buy it in a "convenience shop" at the inflated prices they charge. I would have considered Applegreen, Topaz and the like to be convenience stores although technically they may not be.

ps. not saying there aren't people out there in the country living 20 miles from their nearest Tesco/ Dunnes but if you are you are fiercely marginalised

johndaman66

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Dunnes 'express' tills are anything but express in my experience, usually staffed by people who enjoy long conversations with each other too. My closest Spar is a 2 minute walk, same as Dunnes but they close at 7 or 9, Spar are there til midnight, Tesco is a 20 minute walk, so yes Spar is far more convenient.

I'd say your hitting the wrong Dunnes ben.schlomo. The nearest Dunnes to me has no gabbing much at the tills, nothing that will hold the show up anyway. I see if there are queues forming they are generally pretty quick to call all checkout staff to their tills and now have 6 self scanner tills. They close at 11pm and 12 on Thursdays and Fridays I think. Its about 10 mins walk from me...I reckon it doesn't get too much more convenient than that. but your local Dunnes may not be as efficient, I appreciate that.

There is an Amber filling station 5 mins walk from me but it closes at 10pm. There is no dicking around at the tills though discussing the weather or local deaths etc. I acknowledge that. On the other hand the next nearest convenience store to me is a Centra. They are open until 11pm but I see your often waiting at the checkout a fair spell as they do be understaffed and plenty of dicking around discussing weather and local gossip etc.

I suppose it depends on your geographical location and your own local convenience stores but I would suggest that plenty of so called "convenience stores" aint exactly convenient or the larger cheaper stores are just as convenient...whatever way you want to look at it....

delahuntv

johndaman66 wrote: »

ps. not saying there aren't people out there in the country living 20 miles from their nearest Tesco/ Dunnes but if you are you are fiercely marginalised

Its called living in heaven!

Try Kerry - everyone west of Killarney is in a tesco/dunnes free zone. But we have loads of local artisan producers and local farm produce that is 100 times tastier!

And as I live there for about 6 months of the year, its heaven talking to local shopkeepers and butchers who will give you best advice and best food. And at the end of the day, you buy less and spend less. (and throw out almost nothing)

rubadub

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Dunnes 'express' tills are anything but express in my experience

What bugs me is shops with "10 items or less" tills but they do not stick to the limit, the system should block them from scanning any more. I have seen workers in tesco stick to the 3 item limit at a customer service desk, saying it could not process more. -of course this could lead to further delays if they know the person and process another order for them.

-Back on lucozade, I got 2 freezing cold cans for €1 in a €2 type shop in dun laoghaire, the one with the really large glass front. It was 75c if getting just 1 can.

munchkin_utd

a convienence shop charging a premium for the convienence!

Who'd have thought it?

delahuntv

I read this book a few years ago -

Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies, And Other Pricing Puzzles unravels the pricing mysteries we encounter every day. by Richard B McKenzie

A good read if you are in the economics/business field. The essence of it explains why Cinema Popcorn is superb value even though its a premium price. It also gives an insight into many pricing policies and even why a 6 pack of an item can be cheaper per item than a 24 pack of the exact same item.

foggy_lad

johndaman66 wrote: »

You need to ask the question though are convenience shops any more convenient than your larger supermarkets. It is crazy standing in a queue for ages to buy a bottle of coke but many of these stores are staffed well and all the Tesco and many of the Dunnes now have self scanners and express checkouts which you'd be in and out quicker from than the Applegreens and Centras et al...to me thats what convenience is...

Its manys a time I went into a "convenience store and stood in a queue for ages....not convenience.

You are paying to have the convenience store near where you work so you can pop in at lunchtime for a roll and drink, most supermarkets are not as conveniently located but probably suffer worse from clogged up tills at lunchtime.

delahuntv wrote: »

Its called living in heaven!

Try Kerry - everyone west of Killarney is in a tesco/dunnes free zone. But we have loads of local artisan producers and local farm produce that is 100 times tastier!

And as I live there for about 6 months of the year, its heaven talking to local shopkeepers and butchers who will give you best advice and best food. And at the end of the day, you buy less and spend less. (and throw out almost nothing)

Oh Lah Di Dah...

It is well for those who can afford the huge cost of such artesian/hipster goods but most people don't live in a holiday home for half the year and even if they did they would be looking for much better value for money than these high priced operators charge.