There’s going to be an extra Buzz in the air at Aer Rianta International-Middle East in the future. That’s because the dynamic regional retailer has just hired Iain Harrison to help run the company’s Eygptian duty free operations. The long-time Nestlé International Travel Retail executive took a break – but not a Kit-Kat – in
Miscellaneous
A crystal-clear success story
The Moodie BLOG travels pretty relentlessly. We’re on a plane on average every two weeks and so we get to see a lot of airports, a lot of retail environments, and a lot of brands. Few, very few, are as omnipresent as Swarovski, the great Austrian crystal brand that has diversified brilliantly in recent years
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Miscellaneous
Vancouver Airport’s marine community
As meeters and greeters go, there’s nothing like them in the world. 100 of them, all beautiful, all welcoming, all capturing the local spirit. As travellers climb off their planes at Vancouver International Airport they meet these 100 very special beings. But they’re not people, they’re jellyfish. Moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) to be precise and
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Quirky
Things go blooming crazy in ‘The Shed’… Worldwide HQ
Several readers of The Moodie BLOG have expressed their concerns about the wintry working conditions (pictured left) The Moodie Report Publisher chooses to inflict upon himself down in the company’s original Worldwide Headquarters, mischievously dubbed ‘The Shed’ by Abu Dhabi Duty Free boss Mohamed Mounib. But our latest picture (right) shows why there has been a
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Events
A hands-on approach to quality control
How should one best sample caviar? With onions? Sour cream? Parsley? With vodka? Answer? None of the above, according to Caviar House & Prunier President and CEO Peter Rebeiz who led a masterclass of caviar appreciation during a recent press conference in Paris to celebrate the company’s new travel markets distribution agreement with SSP. “If any
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Miscellaneous
Patrick comes up Trumps
Patrick Nilson has been around the drinks industry for a long time but he may just have come up with his towering achievement. The former Seagram duty free executive has made a big hit out of his independent drinks agency business Haleybrooke International, representing a diverse array of spirits and wines with distinction -and considerable
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Airports
Misery – true airport misery
Nashville Metropolitan Airport has just been rated ‘7th least miserable airport in the USA’, according to a report in The Tennesean. As accolades go, that probably ranks somewhere alongside the performance of the Irish swimming team one year at the Olympics, summed up by a commentator who reported in his daily summary: “No Irishman drowned in
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Events
Duty free as a symbol of unity
It is perhaps our picture of the year. And certainly it is one of the most important and symbolic ones taken in duty free’s 60-year history. The photograph in question comes from Korea – for once neither the qualifer ‘North’ nor ‘South’ is unnecessary. The image is a symbol of a quality tragically lacking on the Korean
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People
Near tragedy as Dane Kongsted drives Tuli nuts
America has long been the breeding ground for super heroes and it threw up another one during the recent Singapore trade show. Revlon travel retail guru Art Miller (above) was widely praised for his swift action in averting what could have been one of the more bizarre and certainly tragic exits from the industry. The
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Miscellaneous
Maui Colm in the frame
Who is that masked man? None other than Dubai Duty Free supremo Colm McLoughlin, captured on camera by The Moodie BLOG at the recent TFWA Asia Pacific show in Singapore. For once that is not devoted wife Breeda by his side but one of the promotional team from Maui Jim, the eyewear house that is making such
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People
Dr Bussell lights up the market
Dr Joseph Bussell is one of duty free’s most durable – and endearing – characters. The head of US family drinks firm Saybrex International, ‘Dr Joseph’ can always be seen at the main duty free shows promoting his always innovative and often quirky product range. He’s also one of nature’s gentlemen, someone who has learned much about