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
Blog
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
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People
Helping Andres Morochz
Terrible news came through on the wires today from our fine colleagues Lois and Paul Pasternak who do such a mighty job with their respected Americas-focused e-Newsletter and magazine, Travel Markets Insider. Insider revealed that Andres Morochz, who works for Beaute Prestige International (BPI), the hugely creative Shiseido-owned fragrance house, in its Miami office, broke two vertebrae in
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Airlines
Counting the cost of oil
This months’ news from Japan regarding fuel surcharges is bad news on every level for travel retail. In a nutshell, the price of outbound travel from Japan – such a linch pin of the global travel retail channel – is going up… and up. Airfares on the key Pacific routes, embracing major travel retail heartlands
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People
The man who allowed Kiwis to dream
Nearly 55 years ago, on 29 May 1953, two men scaled what was then considered by many to be the unassailable challenge of Mount Everest – the world’s highest mountain. One was a Sherpa whose name would enter mountaineering legend, Tenzing Norgay; the other a rugged, unassuming Kiwi called Edmund Hillary. Today, after his death on 11
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Airports
HMSHost gets into stock management with NASCAR
HMSHost is best known internationally for its food & beverage business. But it’s also a pretty adept airport retailer in its stronghold US market. On Friday the Autogrill-owned company celebrated the Grand Opening of its latest innovative store concept – and it’s one that we think will do really well. The retailer has tied up with
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Airports
So where’s the dummy?
Oh the shame. The terrible, terrible shame. After writing the equivalent of War and Peace and two sequels over the past 18 months about the aviation security crisis and the LAGs issue, The Moodie Report Publisher is surely the last person ever to have any liquids confiscated at an airport, right? Er… wrong. British Airways’
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People
Making a difference on the front-line
The scene is London Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 on a cold and drab winter’s day in late December. I’ve just staggered off the 12-and-a-half flight from Shanghai Pudong, where the weather was equally dank and miserable. My mood is similarly grey. I’m tired, fed-up and just want to get a cab home. (Rarely for me) I
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People
George Clooney and My Fair Lady
We had plenty of entries in The Moodie BLOG’s caption contest to best identify what famous American film star George Clooney was saying to Breeda McLoughlin, wife of Dubai Duty Free Managing Director Colm, during the recent Dubai Film Festival. Or, vice versa, what she was saying to him… George has played alongside some of