From my temporary Hong Kong Bureau on the 21st floor of the Harbour Plaza Metropolis in Kowloon, I’ve got a good view of Hong Kong harbour and the amazing skyline that encircles it. Everyone I’ve met here has had the same subject on their mind – the fate of the core category tenders at Hong
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A DFS Master class
DFS promised “an ensemble of significant fine, rare and extraordinary spirits, wines and Champagnes”. And boy, didn’t they just deliver… Blogging in the early, still jet-lagged hours of the morning after the (extraordinary) night before, I’m still buzzing about what I experienced at Master of Spirits II at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore. For any
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Pushing for proof of identity
Credit where credit’s due. Autogrill Lanka has withdrawn the controversial flyer (as in pamphlet, not passenger) at Colombo Bandaranaike Airport that sparked my recent Blog, A questionable question of authenticity. Readers will remember that I criticised the flyer (given out at the retailer’s Arrivals duty free store), which was headlined ‘Are you buying a genuine
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New WHSmith branding gets the nod of approval
Great reaction from London Gatwick Airport to my recent Blog on the impressively revamped news and books offering from WHSmith called London News Company and London Books Company. This is what I wrote: This is what a news-to-books (with plenty inbetween) store should look like. Bright, accessible, a good mix of products, clearly segmented, a
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Finding the Florida keys to Orlando Airport retail
While I fear I am about to be incarcerated in the South Florida version of Alcatraz every time I encounter the security staff at Orlando International Airport, I can’t say the same about the retail employees whom I found consistently friendly during a brief sojourn there last week en route to London. The airport offers
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Jo Malone and new-look newsagents star at Gatwick Airport
I’ve arrived in Orlando for the annual Duty Free Show of the Americas. From Manila it was 24 hours at home and then on to Gatwick Airport to fly here for the annual IAADFS-run exhibition. I feel like a world explorer, a cross between Magellan and Columbus. My body clock tells me its approaching midnight
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Coming to a coffee table near you…
Wow, that’s what I call a welcome. The Duty Free Philippines 25th anniversary team rolled out a banner greeting for The Moodie Report at the Fiesta Mall downtown duty free shopping complex in Manila yesterday. I spent an enjoyable and busy afternoon with a committee of great and dedicated people set up to work on
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A butterfly takes flight
In the parlance of Facebook – ‘like’. World Duty Free Group’s new logo and corporate identity unveiled this morning, features what the company calls a “two-colour infinity icon”. The company notes: “The flexible, sweeping lines within the logo are inspired by the architecture of airport environments; whilst the rounded shapes and ‘organic’ nature of the
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Culture, tradition and experience at Incheon Airport
At last week’s Trinity Forum in Seoul, Incheon International Airport Corporation President & CEO CW Lee jokingly implored all delegates to buy in his shops on their way home. To laughter, he noted during the Opening Cocktail that all delegates’ names were known and that he would be checking to see who had bought duty
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Something for everyone at Suvarnabhumi
I’d forgotten just how strong and diverse the King Power International Group retail offer at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport was. But transiting through the airport last night its vibrancy was immediately apparent. It’s a vast, sprawling retail complex, punctuated with a wide range of individual boutiques and generic duty free stores, many replicated due to the
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Swift Swiss reaction by SSP
Remember my recent Blog on the lack of Swiss wine at Zürich Airport’s acclaimed Center Bar, run by SSP (named the world’s best airport bar at The Moodie Report’s inaugural Airport Food & Beverage Awards last year)? While applauding the environment and atmosphere, I bemoaned the fact that I could not order a glass of
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A questionable question of authenticity
“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). – Alice in Wonderland And indeed, I found some of the signage at Autogrill Lanka’s duty free stores at Colombo Bandaranaike Airport curious and then… curiouser. ‘Guaranteed 100% genuine products’ screams the signage outside
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A-plus for atmosphere; Z for Zinfandel in Zürich
A quick trip to Zürich yesterday left me a few hours to experience the commercial offering at the airport, which has benefited hugely from the recent creation of a centralised security operation, complemented by revamped walkthrough Departures duty free shops run by The Nuance Group. Love them or hate them, there’s no question that walk-through