Meet Ever Rich Group Chairman and CEO Simon Chiang, one of Taiwan’s – and travel retail’s – great philanthropists. I had the absolute privilege of chatting with him this week in Taipei at Ever Rich Duty Free Shop Corporation headquarters, along with his charming and engaging son Kevin (below) who is Vice President of the
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Making a Taipei connection
My whirlwind tour of Asia continues, after arriving in Taipei, Taiwan post a couple of tremendous days in Singapore for DFS’s superb Master of Spirits II event. I flew out of the always excellent Changi T3 (more about that experience in a subsequent blog) into Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport T2. I’m here to meet one
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Events
Welsh wizard turns into marathon man
Qatar Duty Free senior consultant Alan Edwards (above, in white lamb’s wool socks) has become a marathon man on a mission. The popular Welsh travel retail executive is in dragon slaying, sheep chasing, leek munching, daffodil plucking, Grand Slam winning mood as he prepares to run the Virgin London Marathon on 22 April. He’s also on
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Amazon Flood turns out a thriller
Long-time Aer Rianta International (ARI) executive Liam Flood has turned his hand to fiction writing and The Moodie Blog is delighted to offer three copies of his new book in our latest readers’ competition. Liam, one of the great ‘World Rovers’ of travel retail, joined Aer Rianta in 1977 and enjoyed a number of senior roles at Dublin Airport
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People
When Marie met Martin
Meet Marie. She works in the food court at the Marriott Orlando World Center Resort where this week’s Duty Free Show of the Americas is taking place. She’s also from the town of Saint Marc, home to the Lycée Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the school funded and operated by the travel retail industry (through
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Back in the US of A
[Back from left: Erik Juul-Mortensen, Sarah Branquinho, Mandy Sime, Michael Payne, Jose Chao, Jon Kent, Loraine Motta, Pancho Motta, David Granek, George Horan; Front row from left: Christine Deussen, Martin Moodie, Pat Bernstein, Carmel Horan, David Bernstein] Last year I missed my first Duty Free Show of the Americas in over two decades due to
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People
A fitting memorial for Danny Galvin
The family of Danny Galvin, the hugely popular CTC-ARI Airports General Manager who lost his life in a car crash in Cyprus last May, is planning a memorial service and charity golf day in Ireland to mark the anniversary of his death. The outpouring of grief across the industry, and the many tributes that flooded
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Airports
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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Catching up with Seoul’s retail dynamos
It’s sunny but cold here in Seoul, as we move towards kick-off time for the 2012 Trinity Forum that begins tonight with the traditional Opening Cocktail. On Friday I took a break from preparations for the event to catch up with three retailing powerhouses – Lotte Duty Free, Korean Air and The Shilla Duty Free.
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People
YS Choi – still a champion
As an amateur boxer he fought 100 times (winning 95) and never got knocked down. In business and in life YS Choi, who retired last week from his post as President of Lotte Duty Free, has always shown the same indomitable spirit. Here in Seoul the local travel retail industry is still reeling from Mr
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Duty free’s founding father brings more smiles to the world
“I think that duty free shops have a great part to play in the world because they are an extraordinary kind of world link… a universal gesture at airports”– Dr Brendan O’Regan, founder of the airport duty free business “A billion stars go spinning through the night, Blazing high above your head. But in you
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Events
Be Inspired
Here’s a story that has particular resonance for me, as a fanatical supporter of the All Blacks rugby team but also as a huge admirer of the Munster provincial side in Ireland and their outstanding supporters. Last year I was contacted by Limerick-based author John Garrett (below), who was writing a book (now published*) on heroic
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A New Year’s Wish – to be sure
And so we close out another year. On an industry level it has been a typically fascinating12 months. On a personal level it has involved a momentous journey. You will excuse therefore the intimacy of this final Blog of 2011. One year ago to this day I was just commencing my final three weeks of