It's hard to get a happy medium. Sometimes you just could not be bothered going to a big…read moresupermarket - the queues, the trolley 'traffic jams' , not being able to get parked anywhere near the door and then having to make a mad dash in the rain to get inside - but at the same time, small convenience stores just do not have the range of goods you want... Heathcotes is the perfect answer. I first came across it a couple of years back when I was impressed to see that they stocked Findus Crispy Pancakes (an old favourite of mine which I thought had been discontinued) The store is larger than your 'run of the mill' convenience store, but not as time consuming to navigate as a supermarket - they have anything you could possibly want and more, plus a fab deli, with lots of tasty goods on offer. There is ample parking outside, and it's always good for getting a handy parking space, good for when you are coming out laden with bags despite only having gone in for milk!

I was visiting some friends who live in Crumlin (I'd never been there before) and I stopped here on…read moremy way home because I knew I needed to get bits and pieces for that nights dinner. It looks like a petrol station at first glance, and it is, but inside it's more like a small supermarket, with a refrigerated section, a frozen produce section, tinned goods, toiletries, and even a bakery and delicatessen section - in which I got the most gorgeous potato salad and a pasta salad too. They have a good amount of tills available, so the place runs smoothly and easily and there is plenty of parking. I can see why this is a popular spot in Crumlin, though I would imagine the owners aren't happy about the massive Tesco opening up just around the corner.

This is a big store!! The entry road off main road is very narrow!! Plenty of free parking. Dropped…read morein to get a few things. The layout is a bit different compared with other TESCO stores. There's a really good butchers at the rear and a lovely cafe at the back also.

Parking free but that's all that's good about Tesco it is like all the other Tesco stores which…read morehave a couple items that are at acceptable price everything else is absolutely extremely expensive. Their greed for money makes me cringe and management has a non caring attitude when I approached them. Tesco is a disgrace and offer in my opinion no value for money. Personally I would advise anyone to shop around unless you are quite happy to contribute to this company owners luxurious lifestyle.

I bought mixed mince beef and pork by mistake. I thought was beed only as I don't eat pork. 25 mins…read morelater I went back to the store and wanted exchange to beef. The staff at the customer service refuses to exchange it and claim that it's against their 20mins policy returning fresh food because needs kept in a cold temperature. I was 5 mins late and as far as kept in a cold temperature concern, the weather was 1 degree outside. I've asked to speak to the manager to explain the situation. The staff made a speaker tunnel call 3 times and no one came. waitted 15 mins still no manager. I went home and I give the mince beef and pork to someone who will benefit from it. I have been shopping from this store for 26 years. I spend £700 per month there. I have very happy that Tesco are down £700 per month because I won't never ever go back there. I

Been in the shop once when it first opened years ago and it was a good size and seemed to sell…read moreeverything! The staff where all friendly and helpful, I never completed a full shop but just some snacks for a road trip but I got served quite quickly and the staff were good, no idea what easy it has been maintained a few years on

Good stuff. Wish they had Kong zero sugar chilled. However, they had a good supply and inventory of…read morea lot of other things. Great prices, especially for the area. If you're staying in a hotel nearby, you can get anything you need for your stay. In fact, we did find some hiking and outdoor equipment that was good for exploring the northern Ireland.

Usually we went to Tesco for our groceries on this Road Trip. But in Portrush this Lidl was just…read morenext door to our rental apartment. So why go far, right? It's a good-sized Lidl that has everything you might need. Veggies, meat, fruit, all kinds of other food to stock up and household items. It's all fine and we found pretty much everything we looked for. But the quality is a step or two behind what we got used to. Especially the meat (Steaks) did not really thrill me. At Tesco you can get lots of different steaks (from the cheap to the top cuts). We also went for a bit pricier ones here....but it just didn't really do it for me. There's nothing really wrong, but it's not our choice to shop usually. Maybe old habits die hard....but we will go to Tesco again next time....or M&S.

Great selection, clean store also. Opens until 10pm most nights which is handy. Also has good…read morecustomer service, I had a run in with one staff member who refused to refund me for something I bought. I know my rights and knew she couldnt do this so rang the store manage from home and threatened trading standards. He asked me to call in and because of the way his employee had spoke to me he refunded me my money, gave me £10 in store vouchers and £10 for fuel to reimburse me. Excellent customer sevice imo.

Definitely the cheapest place to shop in Coleraine. Although I sometimes find they do not keep a…read moregreat selection of well know brands. But if you are happy enough with their own brand then it is the ideal place to work. George at Asda is great with great bargains in clothes for everyone. The household items are brilliant too and great value. All in all great value shopping which is needed in this present climate!

Sprucefield opened its carpark in 2003, bringing in the biggest Sainsbury store in the country…read more However, there was a bit of a problem due to planning and various objections so Sainsbury's should have been in N.I 8 years previously. And so far, the shop is yet to cement itself into the N.I shopping calender. Perhaps it is that there are only a handful of stores around the country, or perhaps it has something to do with an unearthed national hatred of Sainsbury's partron and all round healthy Jamie Oliver. Nevertheless, it is not a regular grocery visit for many people. This I cannot really understand. The store is huge. Both it and B&Q are considered the "anchor tents" or the big major shops to non-building folks. Yet any time I've been here, this store always seems strangely quiet. Tescos, Asda and even to an extent M&S have found themselves embraced by the NI shopping fanatics, yet this store always seems to be trying to beg people to come in, and very few do. This is nothing to do with the store itself. It is s terrific spot for shopping. The food is great, particularly the fresh meat and the staff are always more than obliging to help you. Although the prices are a smidgen above the prices of Tescos or Asda, it is a very nice shop to be in and the restaurant that they have is always well stocked and the food is as good as you are going to get for a restaurant in a shop. The clothing end is fashionable and the cds and dvds are all up-to-date and occassionally very cheap. I think Sainsbury's has quite a long way to go before people really trust it and accept it over Tesco or Asda. Poundland has only come to NI a year or two ago and people have really taken to it. Perhaps no-one will ever take to Sainsbury's. I can't really work out why, but I'm going to blame Jamie Oliver.

This Sainsburys store is massive. It's like an airport hanger full of every kind of grocery you…read morecould need. The fact that it's about 15-20 minutes outside of the city centre means that it's only really people passing on the motorway that would stop in for a shop, or people living nearby. The store offers a huuuuge deal of selection. I dropped in with some friends recently as we had driven up from Dundalk to acquire the makings of some mojito cocktails and some scrumptious food for dinner. It was very handy for us coming off the motorway and there were miles of parking spaces available. The staff were friendly and helpful too, no complaints there. This store also stock clothing and homewares. An epic store for it's sheer size.

Had a very poor experience tonight in Asda. As usual, the price marked on the shelf is not the…read moreprice when scanned so I took a photo of the shelf and when using the self checkout I showed it to the woman at the tills. She wouldn't look at my photo, instead she asked me to show her the items that were incorrect. I pointed to them (even though they were very visible in the trolley) She then asked me what aisle they were on, I said I took a photo, this was ignored and she said a price check would have to be done. Off she went, 10mins later she returned and said she wasn't adjusting the price as the reduction had expired?! I, as a customer is supposed to know this how? I told her that was ridiculous as the shelf was clearly marked as a rollback price but she was very adamant with me that she was not going to adjust the price, it had expired and she was unable to override it. Well I know for a fact this is nonsense as I purchase these products on a regular basis and they have never been marked down correctly. Strangely the staff during the day just say "Oh those still are not scanning properly, I will adjust them" This member of staff was not obliging whatsoever, she claimed management would not allow this and the best she can do is reduce one of the items, rest would be charged at the higher price! Considering they are still 50p more expensive each than in Tescos, I told her that I wasn't accepting the reduction in just one so she lifted the items from my trolley and confiscated them! Wow! Unbelievably poor customer service! The joke was her outfit said 'Happy to help' Asda take these people off your customer facing roles! Very, very off putting! Stock levels in store were shockingly bad too!

Poor level of stock on shelves. Very few staff and long lines at the checkouts. The store is untidy…read moreand we have found a range of products being sold after their sell/use by dates still on the shelves. This was once the best shopping experience in Portadown now it is unpleasant and exceptionally disappointing. Why has this happened? What is management doing?

I started to use Lidl simply because it was closer to my house than Tesco. Shorter distance to…read morecarry loads of heavy, fresh veg and big bottles of fizzy water! It was only then that I realised it was actually quite good. Fruit and veg arrives daily with nice additions like papaya, watermelons, kumquats and persimmons. The little bakery has fresh baked bread made on site along with pastries, buns, donuts, cookies and scones. All really well priced. There is a big selection of regular bagged breads, pancakes and wraps etc. Also gluten free ranges of bread, rolls and rice/corn cakes. Irish, grass fed beef is pretty good. Reasonably big range of fresh meat and already cooked. The beef pastrami is very good! The constant rotation of different county produce each month is a great addition. Things like lovely Greek yogurt, olives, spreads and very good pittas from Greece, baklava, hummus and beans from Turkey or flavoured oils, vinegars and cured meats from Spain. The have 10 pack of Belgium caramel waffles at £1.50 that taste exactly like Starbucks 2 pack that cost about 62 quid There is a forever changing middle section with homeware, kitchenware, gardening, tools, school stuff and fitness etc. The alcohol section has some super cheap beer and cider deals. Most of the spirits are cheaper brands(the ones that give killer hangovers) Some things to avoid: The herbs/spices, they are pretty wick apart from the white pepper. Baresa olives! The black ones are awful. Dentalux toothpaste. The staff are mostly friendly.

The prices here are so cheap! You can buy good chocolate for well under $1. Check out is quick as…read morewell.

Sainsbury's is my favourite supermarket. Its quality products are the best available and it sells a…read moregreat range of items. I'm a fan of their vegetarian foods and Sainsbury's own brand items (love Sainsbury's Nut Cutlets and veggie mince). They have the best labelling of all the supermarkets with all their own brand products clearly labelled as to whether or not they are vegetarian or BUAV approved (not tested on animals). In addition their brand match scheme ensures you don't pay more with Sainsbury's than with another supermarket. As per Sainsbury's website "When you buy ten or more different products, we'll tot up the comparable brands in your basket. If you could have paid less at Asda - even because of the deal - we'll give you a coupon for the difference off your next shop." I always use my brand match vouchers at my next Sainsbury's grocery shop. Plus their wine selection is superior to all other supermarket selections. Quality store with unbeatable prices, pleasant to browse and lovely, helpful staff. Perfect. At Christmas and New Year Sainsbury's have a special range of fabulous food you can order and collect in store, I would especially recommend the: *Three nut roast with cranberry sauce *Butternut & mushroom en croute *Limoncello buche de Noel If you want indulgent, treat foods try Sainsbury's 'Taste The Difference' range. This blows every other supermarkets 'luxury' items clean out of the water. Definitely the best you'll get, bar none.

Sainsbury's is the main supermarket in the Forestside shopping centre, so for this reason it is…read morealways packed, no matter what time of the day it is. The supermarket has all the stuff you would expect and more, and is a good place to get all your weekly shop done. They have a very large fruit and veg section, complete with salad bar if you are that way inclined, with a very large delicatessen meat and cheese counter. The store also has a large range of magazines, books, CDs, DVDs and games, and is always worth a check for a better price if you are about to buy a recently released item from HMV. As for the rest of the store there is a large range of everything as you would expect. The store has its own cafe which is good for pacifying those who have been dragged along or those who have worked up a hunger in their arduous shopping trip! The store also has installed self scanning machines, which is a real boost to customers as they can get in and for a few items much faster than in the past! I will sign off with a tip: try the white chocolate and cranberry cookies from here. You will not find a better cookie from any supermarket, pinky promise!

Three times in two weeks I travelled from Newry to Dundalk to purchase a refill of the male shaving…read moreblades to find the shelf empty, and when I enquired of an employee, he returned and told me there were none in the back store either.

It's very hard to criticise a place that's great value with mostly quality food. That said I only…read morebuy a few items here - for fresh I go for fillet steak, pork fillet, chicken breast and pork mince (5% fat). So all meat is from Irish farms and I believe the quality of Irish meat is always excellent. The fillet steak is 32 day dry aged. Most steak in the USA is wet aged which is cheaper and produces an inferior product. For frozen it's their Greenland cold water prawns. They are again wonderful quality and taste. The last day I was there they were selling snow peas at 49 cents a bag and 500gm of red grapes at €1.29. Wonderful value for great produce and they often have real deals on fresh veg. So I bought a half dozen of each. The new normal is that you may have to stand outside a while as numbers are now limited. This is ok in an Irish summer (which this year is lousy). They provide hand sanitizer on entry. The only other downside is that they don't have many check out staff so again you can queue there a while too but it's the rub of the green here as the prices are so competitive.