Saluting Sophist-ication at Rhodes Diagoras Airport

The following two tabs change content below.
Martin Moodie
Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

r_pan

rh_frags_pan

rh_tobacco_pan

Diagoras, a 5th century BC poet and sophist, was also a famed Greek atheist. But the airport that bears his name, Rhodes International Diagoras, shows no lack of belief when it comes to retail, while the outstanding way it has championed local products might even have inspired him to pen a verse or two.

In a recent Blog, I praised Hellenic Duty Free’s (Dufry) offer at Athens International and it’s good to see the retailer also providing a quality shopping offer here at a much smaller airport.

The store is big, bright and inviting; the balance between international and Greek products (including a mightily  impressive focus on items from Rhodes) just right. There’s plenty of promotional activity and the staff go the extra mile – one brought me over a shopping basket when they saw me laden down with Greek products (below), while a delightfully engaging sales assistant called Chrisi (pictured below) did a brilliant job in explaining the main promotion on offer, offering me a discount brochure on fragrances post my original purchase and encouraging me to fill in a customer feedback form.

Here’s one company (and its team) doing its/their very best to revitalise the stricken Greek economy by emphasising Greek products and Greek virtues. Sophist teachers used philosophy and rhetoric to teach arete (excellence). The teacher whose name the airport bears would be proud of these students. There’s examples of arete everywhere.

rsz_purchase

rh_chrisi_3

rh_chrisi

 

r_liqueur

r_local_liquuer

r_local_speciality

r_metaxa

r_metaxa_2

r_metaxa_honey

r_ouzo_2

r_red_wines

r_sweet_wines

r_tispouro

r_white_wines

rh_cheese

rh_fine_food

rh_folli_follie

rh_gourmet

rh_greek_foodrh_local_food

rh_local_spirits

rh_souvenirs

rh_souvernirs_2

 [Below: The strong local offer is complimented by a well-ranged international offer, including Victoria’s Secret and a good beauty, confectionery, spirits and tobacco offer]

r_vs

rh_fid

[FID screens in-store: A key customer assurance, so often overlooked in travel retail]

rh_milka

rh_int_spirits

rh_feedback

rh_feedback_2

rh_buy_and_win