‘From what I can see there is a huge difference’

SHOPPERS crammed into Tesco in Drogheda yesterday morning to check out the price reductions the company has brought in to try and stem the flow of shoppers going North.

Thousands of Irish-made products have dropped in price in the 11 Tesco stores along the border – the outlets hardest hit by the Northern-based competition.

“No more going to Newry for me,” said Susan Clarke, from Drogheda, who is a regular shopper in the Co Down town.

She was doing her weekly shop and was delighted at the reduction in the price of pale back rashers.

“It used to be €3.50 for 454g, now it’s €2.99 for 500g, which is great,” Ms Clarke said.

She says the only thing that will get her to shop in Newry now “will be for clothes which are still cheaper. I will shop there for myself and my daughter Katie, six”.

Likewise, Angie and Ian Kennedy from Clogherhead are also regular shoppers in Newry and said they are likely to shop in Tesco as a result of the price reductions.

“From what I can see there is a huge difference in the price changes and with the special offers. We were going to go to Newry this morning, but I am glad we didn’t. It is still more expensive overall than Newry, but it is cheaper than it was,” she said.

Dubliner Brian O’Neill travelled from Clontarf, on the northside of the city, to Drogheda, to see what the price cuts were like.

“I live next door to Tesco in Clarehall and the prices here are much cheaper. I do a really big shop once a month and would spend €500-€600. Sometimes I go to Asda and sometimes Sainsbury’s, but I think this (Tesco) will deter me from going North now.”

Drogheda is about an hour’s drive for him and he said if the reductions are rolled out to Tesco stores nationwide he will shop in Clarehall again.

Another shopper said she was put off by the long tailbacks into Newry at the weekend and the queues at Sainsbury’s.

“The Irish products are well signposted in Tesco this morning and my first impressions of what they have done is positive.”

The buying power of Irish shoppers has not gone unmissed by Asda, who are looking for a site in Newry to open a store there.

Both Asda and Sainsbury’s have seen their share of the Republic’s grocery market rise by 300%, despite neither having a shop in the South. They account for 2.6% of the grocery market in the Republic.

Last year, the Asda store in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, was the sixth best performer of all its British outlets, which many attribute to the many shoppers from the Republic who visit it every week.