From supermarkets to warehouses: how Cork families are changing the weekly shop

Families across Cork travel long distances to Ballincollig warehouse store as soaring food and fuel costs strain household budgets

Bettina Nash travels from Fermoy to Ballincollig to avail of the discounts at Bulk Buy. Pictures: Noel Sweeney

Shopping for her family is akin to a military operation for Fermoy mother of five Bettina Nash.

Married to a naval service officer and raising five children, she is juggling an increasingly strained household budget. With groceries costing the Nash family up to €650 a week, and fuel adding another €200, it’s little surprise she has turned to a new discount store in Cork in an effort to cut her rising bills.

Ms Nash, 41, is one of a growing cohort of shoppers at Bulk Buy in Ballincollig Commercial Park looking for cheaper food at a time of rapidly rising price hikes.

At first glance, the 6,000sq ft store looks more like a warehouse than a supermarket. With stock piled almost as high as the ceiling, its shelves heave under the weight of multipacks of about 2,000 different products.

It opened in the Cork suburb six months ago, offering branded retail goods at discounted prices, sometimes in larger sizes or quantities. Proprietor Kieran Cuddihy told the Irish Examiner during the week the produce on the shop floor changes regularly.

"We have contacts in wholesale who might need to move a product or a certain pack size. We sell anything we come across of value that we can pass on to end users and still make a margin," he said.

Accompanied by her mother and one of her daughters, Ms Nash arrived at the store from Fermoy, 50km away. Despite the distance, she says it’s worth the mileage.

As well as doing her own weekly shop in Dunnes Stores in Bishopstown, about 6km from Ballincollig, she also collects her mother‑in‑law in Fairhill beforehand and does her shop too.

Two of her children attend clinics in Cork City, adding further trips to an already packed schedule.

Proprietor Kieran Cuddihy plans to roll out more Bulk Buy stores.

With two still in secondary school and three in college, the family’s food bill now runs between €550 and €650 a week.

Ms Nash normally divides her shop between Dunnes Stores and Aldi but always checks the website of each store to see which items have been reduced. But since Bulk Buy opened, she has started looking at its prices as well.

“The (quilted) toilet paper is cheaper to buy in Bulk Buy than it is in Dunnes,” she explains.

“It would be similar, quite similar, and it’s €18 for 54 rolls of roughly that equivalent (in Dunnes).” 

When compared with the quilted toilet roll offers in Dunnes, Bulk Buy works out considerably cheaper. In Dunnes, the branded rolls come in at 62c-72c each. The tissue Bettina left Bulk Buy with worked out at just 33c per roll.

Bulk Buy opened in Ballincollig six months ago, offering branded retail goods at discounted prices.

She also picked up a bulk pack of chicken breasts — 25 for €10 — and two large bottles of Dettol. Asked how she manages to cover groceries and fuel on top of the mortgage, Ms Nash shrugged. “We just watch what we have,” she said.

“But I would put it this way — we wouldn't go on family holidays, we wouldn't be going abroad, or anything like that.” 

She didn’t hesitate when asked if stores like Bulk Buy are becoming more essential than ever. “Oh, definitely,” she said.

“This has brought our bills down, especially when it comes to chicken — chicken would be a huge thing in the house.

“I would normally spend about €130 to €140 on meat a week, and now that's about €70.” 

'Huge savings'

Teacher Susan O’Flynn, shopping with her husband Mark, was impressed with the store during their first visit during the week. They had travelled from Carrigaline, 24km away from Ballincollig. 

“I think if you had an event, if you had a party to plan for, with the sweets, with the desserts, there are definitely huge savings there," she said.

“Anything that's special for an occasion now has rocketed price wise.

If you take the packaging off, [Bulk Buy’s sweets and desserts] look just as nice as anything that might have been branded.

Her husband said he believed the couple — with two college-going sons still living at home — could save up to €50 a week by shopping at Bulk Buy.

Mark O’Flynn from Carrigaline believes his family could save up to €50 by shopping at Bulk Buy.

One of their sons eats when he comes home late in the evening and while he would spend up to €10 on a meal, Bulk Buy’s ready meals only cost about €3 each.

Ms O'Flynn added: “So if you were purchasing your little noodle pot and a sandwich potentially in college, you know, you're up at around €10.

“Yet there were meals here for €3 that could easily be defrosted and taken into college.” 

Mark, who is coeliac, said he only spotted two items he could eat, so he wouldn’t see himself buying food there — but he added he’d bring his sons to have a look around for themselves.

Bulk Buy carries about 2,000 different products.

Other first-timers included pensioner Teresa MacSweeney, who came from Blarney with her husband Denis to pick up five 20kg bags of coal for €60.

Catherine Cuthbert, who has been coming to the store since it opened late last year, is a big fan of the store’s €5 7.5kg bags of rooster potatoes.

“They're the best potatoes ever, and I would have been buying them in the supermarket but I’m now buying them here for €5 and I notice they last longer as well.

“I think they're better quality.” 

Asked if he could see Bulk Buy succeeding in Cork, Mark O'Flynn replied: “I've seen one [shop like this] in Dublin back in the late '80s or '90s that worked, and it's still there.

“Something like Bulk Buy was needed in Cork a long time ago.

“This is a good idea because cash and carry is big in the continent. So why can't it be here?”​

Mr Cuddihy, meanwhile, believes the Ballincollig model can work elsewhere. “Location is key," he told the Irish Examiner. Once we can find the right place, we will roll more out — there is a real opening for it.”