The Moodie Report is back in Dubai for the Gala Dinner tonight to celebrate Dubai Duty Free’s 25th anniversary. It promises to be a glittering occasion, with many industry luminaries from around the globe arriving in Dubai for the occasion. The entertainment is led by none other than blockbuster UK band Simply Red. We’ll bring
Miscellaneous
And so we beat on, boats against the current
And so the curtain comes down on the extraordinary year that was 2008… If it was the script for a film no-one would have believed it. A global banking system at one stage in apparent freefall and still in disarray; one of the world’s most respected bastions of the financial community exposed as a pyramid-building
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Airports
Dubai Duty Free makes the impossible a reality
Unbelievable. But very, very real. I’m talking about Dubai Duty Free’s daily sales on 20 December 2008 – the retailer’s 25th anniversary. On the same day a year earlier the retailer posted a remarkable +56% year-on-year increase in sales to AED46,211,743.74 (around US$12.6 million at the exchange rate of the time) while celebrating its 24th
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Miscellaneous
All set for a 24-hour party in Dubai
The Moodie Blog is in Dubai, ready to join in – and report on – Dubai Duty Free’s 25th anniversary celebrations tomorrow. At midnight tonight a 24-hour party kicks off. The retailer is offering an extraordinary -25% discount across a range of items to help create a celebratory buzz and to drive sales. We’re going
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Miscellaneous
Travelling light in Paris…
Long-time travel retail specialist David King sent us in this classic shot of a woman passenger at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. Now this is what we call an inveterate traveller. She was ‘about five feet nothing’, according to David, but that didn’t stop her pulling not one, not two, but five suitcases.
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Airports
Getting the balance right in Glasgow
Of all the ‘regional’ airports we’ve travelled through over the past couple of years, we think Glasgow Airport offers one of the very best duty free shopping experiences. The Moodie Report was at the Scottish airport recently to witness the opening of the latest phase of an ambitious £31 million terminal expansion. And while we
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People
Christmas cheer from Nuance
The Moodie Blog receives a lot of Christmas cards – the traditional type and the modern digital version known as e-cards. Many try to integrate a festive season message with corporate branding, with varying success. We particularly liked this one though from The Nuance Group. In it, Father Christmas is delivering his presents in true duty
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People
Sport, conscience and courage
Readers of The Moodie Blog will know that I am mildly biased towards the All Blacks, the greatest sporting team on the planet in my neutral, considered, opinion (yes, yes, I know that they have not won the World Cup since 1987* – will people please STOP reminding me…) They will also know that The Moodie
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Airports
Newshound scents a major story
All that glitters is gold – at least in the case of Paco Rabanne 1 Million, the new men’s fragrance from Puig (pronounced Pooch, an important detail as we shall explain later) Beauty & Fashion Group. Spurred by a stunning high-profile promotion at London Heathrow Airport Terminal3, 1 Million has been outselling every other SKU
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People
Raising the everage spend
News reaches The Moodie Blog that MAC aims to inject some Possum power into the make-up market, with the imminent introduction of a line of colour cosmetics from ‘Aussie megastar housewife’ Dame Edna Everage, write Rebecca Mann and Martin Moodie. What an inspired move. What better way to banish the economic blues than by buying
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Events
Coming to the end of the road
First things first… 10k is a long, long way. But the road, for the first time since the Miles for Smiles ‘fun run’ was announced several months ago, is at last behind and not ahead of me. Yesterday was just as tough as we all expected it to be and every bit as rewarding. It
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Miscellaneous
And now, the end is near…
The phoney war is over, the side-bets have been laid. And the sponsorship – a remarkable sum, understood to be well north of US$150,000 – has been raised. Yes Saturday is Miles for Smiles day – the big 5k/10k run/walk/crawl that has attracted over 55 runners from around the world and across the travel retail
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Events
Munster the (real) victors after epic sporting showdown
That’s right – you could hear a dog barking in a backstreet of Limerick, such was the silence inside Thomond Park. You almost expected the crowd to collectively look in the direction of the dog, raise their fingers to their lips, and whisper “Shhhhh” in the direction of the hapless hound.