An airport does not have to be big to have an excellent commercial offer. A case in point is Catania-Vincenzo Bellini Airport, located south-west of Catania, the second largest city on the Italian island of Sicily. The airport’s name pays homage to 19th century opera composer Vincenzo Bellini, dubbed ‘the swan of Catania’, a
Airports
Gatwick’s good, bad and ugly
Flying to Sicily for a few days’ break before Christmas, I spent a couple of hours at Gatwick Airport North Terminal viewing its commercial proposition. As always, the Gatwick offer is a mixed bag. A curate’s egg, as they say. When it’s good, it’s very good. When it’s bad, well… First, as one would say
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Airports
Nuance and Lindt unveil a very tasty treat in Zürich
Buoyed by a desire to bring immediate coverage of airport and store openings around the world, The Moodie Report’s carbon footprint has grown to Yeti-like dimensions over the past decade. Yet in all that time we have only witnessed a handful of airport store concepts which really excite, which truly differentiate, which genuinely capture a
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Airports
The persistence of true champions
There can have been few more popular winners of the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup in the 19-year history of the event than this year’s men’s and women’s champions, Francis Clark (above with trophy) and Nadine Heubel (below with trophy). Clark, a Gulf-based Englishman who supplies services to the regional duty free industry, won
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Airports
Travel retail gets set for another Busch fire
‘Busch is back!’ screamed the welcome headline on a press release that tumbled into my in-box on the weekend. The Busch was of the Henrik variety – namely the long-time Copenhagen Airports President Commercial Affairs, who ranks, in my view, as one of the most far-sighted airport retail executives of recent times. Henrik’s departure from
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Airports
Providing the water of life
In a world so often gone wrong, it’s nice to report on something gone right. Very right, in fact, if you’ll excuse my liberties with the English language. This week World Duty Free Group announced it had raised over £1,000,000 (US$1.6 million) for the One Foundation from sales of bottled ‘One Water’ and branded jute
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Airports
Why I love Changi Terminal 3
Changi Airport Terminal 3 ranks right up there among my favourite airports in the world. This week I flew out of T3 en route to Christchurch, New Zealand (my home town where I’m staying prior to taking in some World Cup rugby in Auckland over coming weeks). And as usual it was a thoroughly pleasant
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Airports
Vuitton transports travellers to a different era
Wow. Sometimes superlatives aren’t enough. To truly appreciate the first-ever Louis Vuitton airport store in the world you have to see it. These pictures only hint at the scale and elegance of the shop, opened in association with The Shilla Duty Free at Incheon International Airport on Saturday. At 550sq m it’s big. Very big.
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Airports
A banner day for Korean travel retail
I’m back in South Korea, in very familiar surroundings at the excellent Hyatt Regency Incheon Hotel. I’ve looked out at this view over overlooking Incheon International Airport (pictured below) many times down the years. I have been travelling to Korea annually since the early 90s and forged many close relationships here. I’m here to cover
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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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Airports
Getting the basics right at Terminal 5
Sunday morning, 8am, London Heathrow Terminal 5, writes John Rimmer. Too early for a full meal, tempting though the breakfasts look, and while the Belvedere promotion at World Duty Free is impressive, I just can’t face even a thimble of vodka (sorry Torben). A coffee and a read of the sports pages is about all
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Airports
A city that will rise again
The words say it all. A city broken. But not destroyed. My home town of Christchurch is beginning the slow, painful comeback after the devastation wreaked by the big earthquakes of the past year and thousands of aftershocks. As these pictures published this week of the cordoned-off Central Business District show, the damage is catastrophic.
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Airports
Championing in-store excellence
Bravo to Aldeasa-WDF for not only organising the first competition between shops across its UK and Spain networks but for the way in which the newly integrated retailer did it. The concept, designed to reward excellence at particular retail establishments, saw London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 and Málaga Airport pick up the respective UK and Spanish