Meet Sandy. She works for Blackjack promotions (and Diageo) at World Duty Free Group’s London Gatwick Airport North Terminal store. Sandy knows more about malt whisky than just about anyone I know. And I know quite a lot about malt whisky. En route to Rhodes, Greece, I wanted to buy a nice bottle of Scotch
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Miscellaneous
Hellenic Duty Free and Athens Airport show the true Greek spirit
I am tired of hearing negative things about Greece. I am tired of reading inaccurate and negative headlines in the British press that are deterring tourists in their tens of thousands each week from visiting the country – thus piling more agony on those that suffer most during an economic calamity of this nature, the
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Miscellaneous
Why cancelling your holiday is the wrong kind of Greek exit
This is the only kind of Greek exit I want to see this Summer. I’m in Athens for a fleeting weekend visit and getting a taste, literal and metaphorical, of what this wonderful country has to offer. Alas some 800,000 or so tourists this year won’t get to share the same experience. That’s the ballpark
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Miscellaneous
Hats off to Colm McLoughlin at Wimbledon
Not quite the Mad Hatters’ Ball but certainly a case of two men doing the milliner’s craft proud… Mine is a Fedora, courtesy of the world’s greatest Millinery shop, Le Monde on Wilton Road near Victoria Station; that worn by the equally stylish man with me is courtesy of Rolex, one of the lead sponsors (and official
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Miscellaneous
Hong Kong Airport unveils a very special celebration
The Moodie Report has long championed airports that promote local, regional or national culture, crafts, cuisine, heritage and history – the all-important Sense of Place concept that we have dedicated so much space to over the past 13 years. But I doubt I have ever seen anything as impressive as a new initiative from Hong
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Miscellaneous
Heathrow Terminal 2: Fit for a Queen
The Queen’s Terminal (T2) at Heathrow Airport may be very close to being my favourite airport. The more I use this magnificent new facility the more I like it. Over recent days I have flown out of there (en route to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby near Dublin) and on another occasion dropped someone
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Miscellaneous
The Moodie Tipster brings you the results of The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby (in advance!)
It’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby day and I’m up with the finches and robins this morning to fly to Ireland to attend one of travel retail’s great social and sporting events. On the eve of this year’s big race, the great sporting festival (Dubai Duty Free sponsors three days of racing and a charity dinner) has
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Miscellaneous
Lower Kiwi tobacco duty free limit yields ‘results’ – and questions
1) The facts. New Zealand Customs Minister Nicky Wagner says Customs has destroyed over 2.5 tonnes of abandoned tobacco and collected NZ$1.35 million in additional duty and taxes since the drop in duty free allowances from 250 sticks to 50 last November. 2) The spin. “People seem to be learning about the change,” Ms Wagner
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Miscellaneous
Assessing the shop window effect in airport retail
Travel retail executives often talk about the ‘shop window effect’ of airport retail but what is your favourite actual shop window in the channel? Shop window displays, like airport advertising, have always held a trainspotter-like fascination for me. I’ve long considered Hermès just about anywhere to be best-in-class but there are plenty of rivals. Over coming
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Miscellaneous
Kicking up a (Brand) storm in Paris with L’Oréal
“The Ultimate Business Competition since 1992.” No, we’re not talking European duty free since the European Commission tried to scrap the business that year (finally succeeding in 1999) but a tremendous, long-running innovation by French beauty products giant L’Oreal called Brandstorm. Brandstorm is L’Oréal’s unique business competition for students globally to unleash their creativity and apply
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Miscellaneous
Time for a cheeky Nando’s at Gatwick Airport
I’ve just been out for a cheeky Nandos. Now you, like me, may ask “What’s a cheeky Nandos?” The answer depends on who you talk to. ‘Know your Meme.com’ says the following: Cheeky Nando’s is a British expression typically used on social media to describe a quality dining experience at the South African restaurant chain Nando’s.
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Miscellaneous
Ollie Ollie Ollie, Oi, Oi, Oi
Remember Ollie? Silly question. How could anyone forget Ollie? Ollie is the 9 year-old nephew of Sara Stevens (sstevens@thenuancegroup.com), HR & Training Manager for The Nuance Group (UK) in Southampton. He has spent a long time in Birmingham Children’s Hospital undergoing gruelling treatment for a rare bone cancer called Ewing Sarcoma. During nine months of chemotherapy,
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Miscellaneous
Why we must remain hand in hand with Haiti
I’m at Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port au Prince, Haiti, flying back from an unforgettable experience at the Lycée Jean-Baptiste Point du Sable, the wondrous, world-class school inspired by and funded by the belief and commitment of the travel retail industry. I’ve spent several great days with the inspirational Olivier Bottrie, President, Travel Retailing Worldwide of Estée