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