And so we close out another year. On an industry level it has been a typically fascinating12 months. On a personal level it has involved a momentous journey. You will excuse therefore the intimacy of this final Blog of 2011. One year ago to this day I was just commencing my final three weeks of
Airports
Vincenzo Bellini hits the high notes in Catania
An airport does not have to be big to have an excellent commercial offer. A case in point is Catania-Vincenzo Bellini Airport, located south-west of Catania, the second largest city on the Italian island of Sicily. The airport’s name pays homage to 19th century opera composer Vincenzo Bellini, dubbed ‘the swan of Catania’, a
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Airports
Gatwick’s good, bad and ugly
Flying to Sicily for a few days’ break before Christmas, I spent a couple of hours at Gatwick Airport North Terminal viewing its commercial proposition. As always, the Gatwick offer is a mixed bag. A curate’s egg, as they say. When it’s good, it’s very good. When it’s bad, well… First, as one would say
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People
Farewell to the man from Tumortown
“And on that day [of my death], I’ve realised recently that I’ll probably be in the newspapers, or quite a lot of them. And etiquette being what it is, generally speaking, rather nice things being said about me. Just typical that will be the edition I miss.” – Christopher Hitchens With great sadness I note
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Miscellaneous
A pioneering location’s major makeover
Shannon Airport occupies a special place in the hearts of many travel retail people. The birthplace of duty free in 1947, courtesy of the industry’s founding father Brendan O’Regan, it’s a location that you’ll hear name-checked in every continent where duty free retailers ply their trade. It may be widely celebrated, but in recent years
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Miscellaneous
Stella delivers a star turn at London L.I.L.Y launch
Over the years this writer has been lucky enough to attend launches in all sorts of exotic locations around the world, but earlier this month L’Oréal came up trumps with a more local venue: Wellington Arch, on Hyde Park Corner. We must have walked past this monument 100 times, and never once realised you could
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Events
Bravo to Bruce McGuire
Ever since I launched The Moodie Report in 2002 I have come to hugely admire the entrepreneurs within this industry, people who have had the vision, the acumen and the sheer guts to launch and grow a business. As anyone who has steered this path will tell you, it ain’t easy. If it was, as
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Events
In the pink in Dubai
Cancer Research UK (www.cancerresearchuk.org) is US$1,000 better off, following the recent Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup and related ‘fringe’ events. At the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup, Abu Dhabi Airport Company’s Dan Cappell and his various playing partners raised nearly AED800 (US$218) from on course ‘fines’, a figure presented to me at the
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Airports
Nuance and Lindt unveil a very tasty treat in Zürich
Buoyed by a desire to bring immediate coverage of airport and store openings around the world, The Moodie Report’s carbon footprint has grown to Yeti-like dimensions over the past decade. Yet in all that time we have only witnessed a handful of airport store concepts which really excite, which truly differentiate, which genuinely capture a
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Miscellaneous
Origins lights the way with Mega-Bright
We could all do with a little more enlightenment in life, and Origins did its best to oblige last week, at the London launch of its new skin care treatment, Dr Andrew Weil for Origins Mega-Bright Skin Tone Correcting Serum. The event took place at Paramount at Centre Point, an appropriately light and bright location