duty-free

Chivas and Christian Lacroix Create 18-yo Limited Edition Scotch

Filed under: Spirits

Chivas Brothers launched its latest collaboration with fashion designer Christian Lacroix – a luxury limited-edition version of its super-premium Scotch whisky Chivas Regal 18-year old. Following on the success of the Chivas 12 year-old magnum by Christian Lacroix last year, the new edition of Chivas 18yo will be available in selected travel retail outlets starting in November.

Chivas Regal 18 Year Old by Christian Lacroix features a brocade presentation box in French jacquard, with a mirrored interior, while the Chivas label on the bottle is also embroidered in jacquard. The bottle features an intricate "metallic" design reminiscent of Lacroix's work on the Chivas 12-year old magnum. Only 3,000 bottles of the Lacroix 18 will be available, with around one-third allocated to the duty free market at a retail price of $495.

In November Paris Charles de Gaulle airport will mark the world premiere of Chivas 18 Year Old by Christian Lacroix, with the bottle making its debut at Aelia's stores in terminals 2C and 2E. The following month the limited edition will be rolled out to World Duty Free's stores in London Heathrow terminals 3, 4 and 5, before the product is launched in duty free outlets in Moscow and New York JFK. In the New Year, the limited edition will be introduced to key airports in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, including Dubai, Singapore Changi and Hong Kong.

Tags: 18-year-old scotch, 18-year-old whisky, Chivas Regal, Christian Lacroix, duty-free, whisky

Jim Beam Introduces Six-Grain "Signature."

by David Kiley (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Bourbon maker Jim Beam has introduced a new six-grain expression. Available only through travel retail (duty-free), Jim Beam Signature comes from mingling spirits distilled from corn, rye, barley, wheat, triticale and brown rice.

From Jim Beam: "This product is a result of us mingling different Bourbons together. Each were made from a standard Bourbon recipe (high percentage of single grains). For instance, we distilled a high wheat, small grain Bourbon; a high triticale, small grain Bourbon; and a high brown rice, small grain Bourbon. Each were barreled separately and then mingled together prior to bottling.

In European duty-free outlets, the suggested retail price is 29.99 Euros. Beam has produced 13,800 bottles.

Beam says Signature is six-year old Bourbon, and has been bottled at 89-proof.

The taste profile: Nuttier tasting than most Bourbons. And there is a cereal taste that pokes through. Drier in the mouth than you get with most Bourbons. Faint notes of root-beer. It is a sophisticated taste not just something novel.

Tags: Bourbon, Duty-Free, Jim Beam, Jim Beam Signature, Jim Beam Six-Grain

Giant Ash Cloud Is Costing Duty-Free Shops Millions

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Here's one fallout of the Icelandic ash cloud that you might not have thought of: the duty-free market. According to a Bloomberg article the shutdown of travel across the European airspace is costing duty-free retailers an estimated 25 million euros ($34 million) a day in lost revenue. The industry has had a quiet decline over the last couple of years as travel for both business and pleasure has decreased. Generation Research estimates that sales of duty-free items sold at airport shops and on planes fell 8 percent to $22.7 billion last year and European sales accounted for almost half of that. The lack of passenger traffic from delayed flights means lost revenue for the airport shops. Even those travelers that are stranded in the airport itself aren't in a buying mood. Travelers from Asia who often spend a lot on European luxury goods have not been able to fly in.

Airspace is gradually reopening across Europe but a new ash cloud headed for the U.K. means London's airports may not be able to open as quickly. The ash could clog plane engines and so most of Europe has been under a prolonged shutdown waiting for the air to clear. It's not all bad news for some luxury retailers, the volcano may have crippled duty-free sales but travelers stranded in European cities may decide to spend a little spare time shopping in other stores in the towns.

Tags: ash cloud, duty free, duty free shopping, duty free shopping warning, duty free shops, duty-free, iceland volcano

Duty-Free Shopping Without the Flight

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

English consumers now have the option to shop a duty-free shop without going to the airport. British Airways has launched the High Life Shop, an online duty-free shopping service that will deliver jewelry, perfume, watches and more to customers all around England whether they have been on a British Airways flight or not. The full range of the shop, with the exception of cigarettes and alcohol will be available and British Airways will pay the VAT on the goods. There are currently around 370 products on offer and the company plans to add luggage, eye masks and other things associated with travel.

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Tags: british airways, BritishAirways, duty-free, expire-images:2009-3-22, online shopping, vat

U.S. Airport Shops Go Posh

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal covered the high end shopping in airports both in the U.S. and abroad. Brands like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Sephora and Versace have stores in airports.%uFFFD While foreign airports have often ample shopping, the U.S. has been slow to catch up because U.S. shoppers haven't really expressed a big interest in airport shopping. But the trend is shifting, in May, French jeweler Cartier opened a shop at New York's JFK airport and Terminal A/B at Baltimore/Washington International has the first airport location of menswear chain Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. It's part of an overall trend of making American airports more luxurious. Recently we have seen an increase inairport spas and fine dining in U.S. airports but I wonder if Americans are really ready to shop in domestic airports (although we seem more than happy to do it overseas). The article suggests that the fact that prices for simple items like gum and water are so deeply inflated that Americans may fear they won't get a good deal in boutiques but I'm not certain that's the only reason. Do you shop in airports and if not, why not?

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Tags: airport shopping, AirportShopping, duty-free, hermes, luxury brands, retail, versace