Up close and personal in travel retail
The Orchard amounts to a feast of the senses, packed with vast internal panoramas, the magical allure of an indoor tropical gardens, expansive walkways along the luxury-lined shopping avenues, a thrilling fusion of shopping and dining, and much more.
What I saw (and what passengers will see) redefines the airport experience. Not the Hamad International Experience, any airport experience. I can’t give any more away than that before tomorrow. But I promise you, the story will be worth the wait.
With most of the airport’s shops and restaurants closed through much of the pandemic, you could be forgiven for thinking the airport’s commercial and retail teams have been in holding mode. You could not be more wrong.
I may, just may, about to become the face of ‘the website that never slumps’.
What I like most perhaps about the store is its non-formulaic approach. No semi-forced walkthrough here, you can go off-piste just as much as you want with a surprise in the form of a travel retail-exclusive or newcomer at almost every turn.
I’ve been travelling so much that when I visited my dentist on Friday, I actually (and I swear this is true) went to fasten my seat belt as I sat in my chair. Given my aversion to dentists and what followed, I probably should have.
Travel retail, already a fine showcase at OR Tambo, can be a gateway to deeper knowledge and wider engagement with the best that South Africa has to offer.
Breaking news: A very different kind of airline high jacking at Heathrow.
What an outstanding showcase for Irish whiskey Aer Rianta International provides at The Loop (which may, just may, have been named after a Johnny Sexton-called backs move).
I didn’t mind the price but I did question the value. The peas were about as freshly minted as a 1930s coin, more the colour of army camouflage gear than the bright, fresh-picked green of the menu photo.
When the definitive history of airport dining is written, the breakthrough influence of the original Caviar House Seafood Bar at Heathrow may be viewed as the seminal moment that food quality and consumer satisfaction first got a look in.
Why should a wonderfully innovative product such as IQOS, which aims to convert cigarette smokers to a much safer alternative, have to be locked away in this dungeon?
There is a buzz in the air and unlike my favourite character from Toy Story this buzz will not crash to earth.