This Blog comes to you from London Stansted Airport, never the most inspirational experience and certainly not at 6.30 in the morning. At least the security queue was working better this morning than during my last visit, but that’s more than can be said for the queuing system at the WHSmith store (below). Wanting to
Airports
Will Nuance-Watson’s bold Changi bid bear fruit?
If you’re into symbolism it doesn’t get much better than this picture. I snapped it during the opening of Nuance-Watson Singapore’s elegant new perfumes & cosmetics mega-store at Changi Airport’s recently opened Terminal 3 last Friday. Pictured is The Nuance Group President and CEO Roberto Graziani being handed a mandarin orange by one of the Chinese
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Airports
Twin propellers of penetration, Baileys style
For years Baileys Irish Cream has been one of the most innovative brands in travel retail and it’s clear the tradition is continuing. I snapped the pictures above and below at DFS Group’s main store at Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 last week, en route to Bangkok. What drew my eye were the perky little
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Airports
From Larnaca to Las Vegas
Las Vegas comes to Larnaca. That might sound an unlikely prospect but that’s what is happening in Cyprus as CTC-ARI Airports launches one of the most high-profile promotions seen in the airport retail channel. It’s called ‘Amazing Days at the Airport – Viva Las Vegas’ and it’s part of a planned series of ‘Amazing Day’-themed
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Events
Who’s pulling the strings here?
Next time you’re in Bangkok, don’t miss an amazing new attraction at King Power’s Downtown Duty Free Complex. The Aksra Theatre is an integral THB600 million (US$19 million) component of King Power Chairman Vichai Raksriaksorn’s dream of a one-stop culture-to-entertainment-to-shopping extravaganza in downtown Bangkok. The duty free centre opened in August 2006 and is already established
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People
Stuart McGuire – a winner on every level
There are winners… and there are winners. And Scorpio Distributors Founder and Managing Director Stuart McGuire, not for the first time, proved himself the best possible example when his company was named ‘Supplier of the Year’ at the recent Inflight Sales Person of the Year (ISPY) Awards. This award was particularly significant as it was judged
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People
New Gal-a-way putter helps Colm takes the Tiger line
Readers of The Moodie Blog will remember the launch of the ingenious ‘crutch’ putter by its developer, Dubai Duty Free Managing Director Colm McLoughlin, in late 2007. The club was conceived after Colm, a single handicapper, originally from Galway, began his recovery from hip surgery in the run-up to the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup last
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People
Mighty Mahendra from Motibhai
The travel retail industry is fortunate enough to be able to count on a number of great internationalists that have acted as true industry statesmen down the years. Sadly, we have just lost one – Dr Brendan O’Regan, the creator of the world’s first airport shop, back in Shannon, Ireland in 1947. But others carry
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People
Dr Brendan O’Regan’s universal gesture
“If you’re involved in developing an important idea, you have to let it possess you. If you keep knocking on the door, the door will open.” – Dr Brendan O’Regan. And so we say farewell to a great man of duty free, a great man of Ireland and a great man of peace. Dr Brendan
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Miscellaneous
The lasting legacy of Dr Brendan O’Regan
In the days since the passing of Dr. Brendan O’Regan, founding father of airport duty free, the outpouring of grief here in Ireland has been remarkable, and profound. For people in the duty free business, of course, he was a symbol of our channel’s beginnings in 1947, when he opened the first airport duty free