Tesco cuts shopping bills by 22 per cent

'I"m glad to tell you today that Tesco is the first supermarket in Ireland to put a line in the sand and say enough"s enough and bring a real change that Ireland"s been asking for. I"m also proud to say that Tesco Cavan is as far north as you need to go.' That was the message delivered by Tesco"s Cavan store manager, Tony Neutz when he unveiled the new-look Tesco store yesterday (Tuesday) promising reductions of up to 30% for shoppers on their groceries. In a major initiative across its eleven border stores including Cavan and Bailieboro, Tesco has cut the prices on 12,500 goods and products in-store by an average of 22%. In the move, which aims to step the flow of shoppers going north across the border, Tesco claims that a typical family can save up to €100 a month on their grocery shopping as a direct result of these changes. The price of Tesco brand milk is being reduced by seven per cent, fresh meat by 16% and poultry by 24%. The move by Tesco follows iniatives by SuperValu and Centra on a range of sterling price matches, as well as sterling busting prices from Dunnes. The company is using its international buying power and sources more products from Northern Ireland and UK suppliers to achieve the permanent price reductions. However, Mr. Neutz insists that produce from local suppliers will still be stocked on shelves. He said that Tesco was giving consumers the choice and that the company would let demand dictate the volume of products being stocked on shelves. 'We still have al the local suppliers and we still have all the local products. So we"ve increased our range. We haven"t stopped stocking any of the Irish brands or Irish suppliers, we still have them within our range,' he said. Tesco Ireland closed all of its border stores, including Cavan and Bailieboro on Saturday evening and they remained closed until Tuesday morning while they were refurbished and restocked by staff over the bank holiday weekend. Curious shoppers queued outside both stores on Tuesday morning and the first 25 shoppers through the doors of each store were rewarded with shopping vouchers worth €50 each. Kathleen O"Hanlon one of the first shoppers in the Cavan queue was delighted to accept the honour to open the Cavan store. Before officially opening the store, Mr. Neutz assured shoppers 'these lower prices are here to stay' and the Tesco Change for Good campaign would also offer 'bigger choice'. He added that the iniative has secured 83 jobs in Tesco, Cavan and 19 jobs in Tesco, Bailieboro. Meanwhile, Cavan Chamber president Eamon McDwyer congratulated Tesco Ireland on the initiative and predicted it would keep more shoppers on Cavan and Bailieboro streets. 'It"s very important that people come into the town and shop in the town and there is obviously a spin-off for the little shops around the major multiples so yes it is a positive thing,' he said. Mr. McDwyer added that the Chamber would continue to work with smaller retailers to help them reduce their costs and overheads and pass those saving on to consumers. 'A lot of the retailers have actually taken steps, people can see it and we would like to encourage people to get out there and see it for themselves,' he remarked. Cavan town Mayor Paddy O"Reilly was also present at the opening. 'Tesco are a major employer here in the town and they"re to be complimented on the initiative that they"re taking to try to stop the flow of people going north. We depend here on jobs and local industry and suppliers and all the spin off from it so I think it"s imperative that this initiative would work and others would follow and I wish them the best of luck,' he said. Bridie Lee from Ard na Greine, Cavan town was one of the first shoppers through the doors in Cavan and was delighted to win a €50 shopping voucher. She said that over the past year she had noticed her grocery shopping bill getting smaller. 'A lot of stuff came down but they had to do it anyway with ASDA and the whole cross-border shopping thing. Competition is fantastic,' she said.