The Moodie Report was delighted to attend a lunch last Friday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Travel Retail Consortium, the association of suppliers and distributors to the UK travel retail market. It’s an association that has seen different members come and go, and that has witnessed huge changes to the UK corporate landscape,
Miscellaneous
Storck’s Paul Ridgway bids an industry farewell
Long-time head of Storck Travel Retail Paul Ridgway bid an emotional farewell to the industry on Wednesday evening in Cannes, with a surprise celebration organised by the company at the JW Marriott Hotel on the Croisette. Ridgway, retired earlier this year after 17 years working with Storck in the travel retail channel. He was joined
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Miscellaneous
Gebr Heinemann celebrates 25th year of Cannes golf tournament with Estée Lauder
Gebr Heinemann celebrated its 25th year as host of the Cannes golf tournament on Sunday, in association with partner and co-host Estée Lauder. Although the day was threatened by rain early in the round (which also pushed back the tee-off by almost an hour), it didn’t dampen the spirits of the 100-plus golfers, for which
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Miscellaneous
Hyderabad: home of the biryani
The Moodie Report’s all-too-brief tour of India has moved on to Mumbai after a very enjoyable stay in Hyderabad, capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh and one of India’s boom towns. It’s also the venue for December’s Power of India event, hosted by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, operator of one of India’s newest
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Airports
A tale of transformation
A few years ago, my then boss and I found ourselves in the departure lounge at Delhi International Airport. As was our customary task when travelling, we made a thorough assessment of the duty free offer. It took about three and a half minutes. I particularly remember seeing a gleaming new gondola by Rémy Martin
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Miscellaneous
Schiphol’s dash of style
The completion of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol’s new Lounge 3, which has its official opening next week, marks the latest phase in the commercial transformation of one of Europe’s major hubs. We’ll bring you full details of the retail and food & beverage line-up, plus an assessment of the offer in coming days, as well as
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Miscellaneous
Preparing to cross the desert
Duty free’s masochistic fringe continues to make headlines. Hot on the heels of multiple marathon man Sean Staunton chugs The Edrington Group Area Director – Japan, Hong Kong, Asia Pacific Duty Free Ryan Hill, the latest travel retail executive to sacrifice his body for a very worthwhile cause. Ryan is participating in the 250km Sahara
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Miscellaneous
A fond farewell to Wearside’s finest
The Skylon bar at the Royal Festival Hall in London was the venue on Wednesday for a fond industry farewell to Jo Willey, who left Cadbury this week after several years’ loyal service in the UK confectioner’s travel retail division. Many of Jo’s friends within the business were on hand to salute Sunderland’s finest over
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Miscellaneous
Fine wine, but Hewitt blew it
The Moodie Report was fortunate enough to be at Wimbledon yesterday, courtesy of the tennis championships’ official wine, Jacob’s Creek. Alongside our old friend, highly respected IWSR editor and giant of American literature Alec Smith, we were Centre Court guests of Pernod Ricard Travel Retail’s John Smailes and his colleagues Ian Williams, Charles Raciti, Neil
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Miscellaneous
Baltic bonanza
If you want to witness first-hand the amazing pulling power of tax free shopping, and a market where virtually every traveller makes a purchase, I urge you to take a trip on an overnight cruise ferry in the Baltic Sea. That’s what I did this week, courtesy of Tallink-Silja, and it was an eye-opening experience.
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Miscellaneous
Re-shaping Schiphol
The re-shaping of retail and food & beverage at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol continues apace with the ambitious remodelling of Lounge 3, due for completion over the next two months. With a series of brand new fascias for the core category stores plus bright, vibrant new concepts, travellers will soon see a very different commercial face
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Miscellaneous
Celebrating a life lived to the full
Sad, moving and poignant, this week’s funeral service for Danny Galvin, the highly respected and popular CTC-ARI Airports General Manager who lost his life in a car crash in Cyprus, was also a fitting celebration of a life lived to the full. Richard Galvin spoke beautifully about the two distinct halves of his brother Danny’s
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Miscellaneous
Pro-industry legislation, rare and welcome
As an industry, we invest much time and energy facing down legislative threats to the business. So when a piece of legislation comes along that enhances the status of duty free – and in Europe, at that – it’s something that appears rare and precious. Yet that’s what we are applauding this week, after the