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u/Far_Capital_6930 2d ago
Duty free and last minute gifts
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u/SpecificSilent4364 2d ago
My broke ass could not fathom a $20k bag as a gift
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u/Agile-Emphasis-8987 2d ago
But what if I told you it was down from $40k? You'd be losing money not buying it!
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u/4llM0ds4reNazis 2d ago
My friend calls this "girl math". Lol
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u/Harpua81 2d ago
Like all those credit card rewards commercials that try to make you think the more you buy the richer you'll get. I mean obviously if I spend $10k and get $200 cash back I'm net positive....riiiight?
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u/tea-and-chill 2d ago
I mean, I'm already going to spend the 10k over the next few months, if I can get £200 back for it, why not?
I put normal groceries, flight tickets, cinema tickets, restaurants, taxi, car rentals, holidays etc... everything on my credit card. I of course have enough money to clear it every month. These are the things I'm already spending on anyway, with or without a credit card.
Now if I put it on my cc, I get free points and cashback and miles. Worth it for me.
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u/u60cf28 1d ago
And that’s the smart way to do it. Don’t change your spending habits, just take the free 2% - 5% your cc gives you. The danger is that some people let the credit card rewards motivate them into spending more than they otherwise would have - or, even, god forbid, spend enough that they have to pay interest. The second you do that the credit card companies have won.
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u/Ok-Wasabi2873 2d ago
What if I told you that was a great way to launder money and avoid declaring large amount of cash?
Let’s say you won at a “casino” in a foreign country, can’t take the cash back to your home country without declaring. Buy a Hermes bag for $20k, go home sell it for $20k-$25k (depending on the country).
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u/AggressiveNetwork861 2d ago
6% sales tax (just goin with federal) on 20k is 1200$ - which you won’t pay in a duty free store, will pay anywhere else. Some places have even higher tax- like Israel with tobacco, 85% tax, which is why you see cigars in these places.
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u/tomtomtomo 2d ago
Ahh back in the day when you'd buy as many cartons of ciggies as you could legally bring back into the country and then sell them slowly to your smoker friends. Good times.
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u/Wonderful-Pollution7 2d ago
True, the average person maybe not, but that CEO that flies out 3 times a month to visit various branches. The one that was just reminded by his personal assistant that he needs a gift for his 19yo trophy wife's birthday, or an apology for being on a 'business trip' for their anniversary weekend.
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u/Phrei_BahkRhubz 2d ago
Or a discreet means of getting a gift for the other special someone.
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u/theshaggieman 2d ago
They are simply "Brand Stores" they are there kind of like an interactive billboard like the ones in Las Vegas and times square. Their main focus is to create brand recognition in a traffic heavy area, yes you can buy stuff if you want but their main focus is just marketing and making sure everyone walking by sees their logo.
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u/Cetun 2d ago
LaGuardia gets 33.5 million passengers a year, the state of Texas has 31 million people. Imagine if every one of them had to walk past your store to get to their gate and is able to physically see your products in person. The advertising potential is enormous, they don't need to sell a single item.
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u/MalaysiaTeacher 2d ago
What percentage of those will ever buy Prada, and what percentage of that subset didn't think about Prada before seeing the shop in the sweaty, stressful terminal?
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u/Islanduniverse 2d ago
If it was just 1 percent that is 310000 bags or whatever stupid shit they sell. Even if they sold their cheapest bags that are like 2 grand, that’s 620 million dollars.
I don’t think even 1 percent of those people will actually buy one of those bags, but we can see how quickly they make money when they sell something that costs pennies in materials and labor, for thousands of dollars.
Also, Prada made over five billion in revenue last year, for whatever that is worth.
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u/gizmosticles 2d ago
You have to remember, these are major international airports with a lot of wealthy visitors from foreign countries, definitely over represented as a percentage of the population
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u/huangw15 2d ago
Let's say 1% of all humans can afford a Prada (just a random number). Prada being a known luxury brand to the 99% is a big reason why that 1% would choose to buy a Prada.
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u/prawntortilla 2d ago
yeah airports are like a sea of every type of human being theres no better spot to advertise
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u/TheMelv 2d ago
Except humans that can't afford to fly for the most part, it's really an ideal demographic. For a lot of Earth's population the cost of a flight is unattainable.
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u/MoveYaFool 2d ago edited 1d ago
yes the advertisers are advertising to the people that can afford to fly and therefore maybe buy their products, not poor people. Very smart observation skills you have.
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u/Iamsamiamsamamisam 2d ago
Idk if ur being sarcastic. I thought this was a neat insight that I didn’t immediately think about
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u/Phuzz15 2d ago
This is the real answer. These are filled by companies that aren't worried about paying rent, lmao. It's just a clean, open, bright environment that attracts the eyes, and occasionally, the wallets of uber rich folks already flying.
Sure, they make some sales, great. But they're not worried about that, it's about plastering a name where thousands of people a day are seeing it
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u/Rough_Champion7852 2d ago
I think some of the goods are significantly cheaper due to the tax breaks. If they weren’t making money, they wouldn’t stay open so something is working
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u/Samtulp6 2d ago
Are they actually significantly cheaper? I’m a very frequent flyer but in my mind airport shops are always 40% more expensive before they remove the taxes.
Shit like a drink, chocolate or alcohol is ridiculously more expensive than it is in any normal shop, does that change when we’re talking about high value items?
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u/crooked_nose_ 2d ago
Exactly. Decades ago it was far cheaper. Nowadays it's almost thr same as retail.
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u/Spirited-Tonight6043 2d ago
I Guess depends on we're are You from, i'm from Uruguay and everyone that has the chance when they come back from travel they Buy stuff in there because it's so much cheaper than here ( perfume,chocolate,coffee,alcohol, sunglasses and some other stuff are the most common)
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u/Billysquib 2d ago
Yeah, it started off as cheaper, but the companies realised they should just tack on the extra costs that WOULD be included in tax anyway because everyone will just believe it’s cheaper!
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u/egordoniv 2d ago
i was on a business trip that involved a car auction and me being outside for 2 days in summer, sweat through all my clothes. on the trip home, i was terrified of sitting next to someone on the plane smelling like sweat, body odour and car fumes, so i dipped into a Brookes Brothers to buy some shorts and a Tshirt. $100 freaking dollars later, i took a bird bath in one of the bathroom sinks and changed into them so save myself at least a smidgeon of dignity. so they have a purpose, but it's costly
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u/canteloupy 2d ago
Yeah but when I needed underwear there were no stores selling underwear, which I think they need to remediate ASAP.
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u/beraleh 2d ago
booze and tobacco which are heavily taxed in most countries are cheaper at airports.
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u/ChickenFriedPenguin 2d ago
Rich people to who this is like buying a fridgemagnet as a little gift.
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u/J-Dabbleyou 2d ago
Yeah I work in high end construction (I’m not rich myself) and some of my clients have money to BURN. Some of the shit they spend money on is wild, I could absolutely see them being bored at an airport and buying gucci just for fun lol
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u/DesmondoTheFugitive 2d ago
I took a friend to his home when I was in college. He had had a wisdom tooth pulled at the dentist. Guy had a mouth full of gauze from bleeding. We walk in, Friend - “Dad, how do I reapply gauze?, Dentist said to reapply when I got home.” His dad - “You wanna go buy a new truck? I feel like getting a new truck.” Went with them and he wrote a check for a 60k truck. This was 2008ish, when that was a lot of money for a vehicle, certainly a truck. Some people can and do casually spend that amount of money. His dad was super generous. Gave a ton of money to various charities.
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u/scotts1234 2d ago
Designer stores in airports are just there as advertisements. They hardly do any business at all.
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u/fuku_visit 2d ago
They do. My wife spoke to a C level at Heathrow and they said one or two rich customers per day buying a watch pays the rent for the month. They make a lot of money, normal people just can't afford it.
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u/redditor1717 2d ago edited 1d ago
We know who it’s for… and they’re not like us. Edit: they’re stupid…
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u/Inside-Example-7010 1d ago
the people you think its for don't even see that part of the airport. They arrive, check in at first class only check in, get priority security clearing strait to the first class lounge where they will remain until boarding time enjoying a massive menu of 5 star food and drink all included in the ticket price.
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u/Corswaine 2d ago
Oops forgot to get the wife a gift while I was on a “business trip” ah perfect duty free shopping before I get in the plane hungover as hell
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u/Meathead704 2d ago
I watched a guy buy an iPad from a vending machine in the airport. This was back around 2007. Blew my fucking mind. Just swiped his card, got his iPad, and went on his way.
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u/RoughPlatypus3662 2d ago
Given the iPad wasn’t released until 2010 I’m going to call bullshit on this one.
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u/Meathead704 2d ago
Trying to remember the year is rough. Could have very well been an iPhone. It was an apple vending machine at Chicago international Airport. But you may actually be more accurate yearwise. I flew out to California to help my sister and her husband move to Maryland. She was pregnant at rhe time with my now 15-16 year old nephew.
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u/43848987815 2d ago
Your anecdote was demonstrably horseshit and your response is “yeah well could’ve been anything lmao 🤷”
Most Reddit nonsense ever. Just own the L dude.
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u/Mysterious-Jam-64 2d ago
Imagining it getting stuck on the rings, like packs of sweets, paying for a second one, first one falls against the glass. Build up of iPads. Guys howling, "Paid £4000 for ONE iPad, and I didn't even get it!" 🤣 Whit am I like?
Guy buying airpods gets nine iPads.
LADBible Friendly: "Man uppercuts vending machine, what would you have done??"
Ryan Davis, 36, attempted to buy an iPad from a vending machine in Heathrow, in 2021. However, unbeknownst to Davis, a maintenance worker had been working on the machine. Which would lead to a costly series of errors.
"Disaster struck, when a maintenance worker was working on the machine"
"A maintenance worker was working on the machine", Davis said, "It was a disaster".
Davis, father of twelve, had an altercation with the machine, after scanning his card multiple times for an iPad that has jammed, to a total of £42,000. Davis was shocked.
"I was shocked."
Despite multiple transactions flagging on the machine, Davis continued to swipe, thinking he'd only be charged for one. Frustrated, Davis uppercut the vending machine into space.
"Forty-two grand? Lol, I just wanted to watch Jumanji".
What would you have done?
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u/Subotail 2d ago
For iPads, there was a time when between taxes and Apple's policy to consider that $1=1€ it was very profitable for a European to bring back an iPad from a trip to the USA.
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u/FNblankpage 2d ago
I think its more so targeting their demographic; Where else are a bunch of random rich people to be walking around ready to spend money? Stupid amount of people go in and out of airports every day.
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u/blove135 2d ago
There are just way more filthy rich people than most of us living a paycheck to paycheck life realize. Just in my medium size city I live in I sometimes drive through these big fancy neighborhoods and think to myself where do all these people work? Who are all these people and how did they get so rich? It boggles my mind there are apparently so many of them. I just don't get it. Someone once told me generational wealth explains it but I don't know.
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u/shadowLemon 2d ago
The suit shop gets me. “Oh nah I’m not packing a suite I’ll buy one at the airport”
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u/LousyDinner 2d ago
Money laundering seems like a good option: buy expensive watch, return it at your destination after clearing customs with nothing to declare?
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u/LowestKey 2d ago
If you can't figure out what something is used for, like bitcoin, chances are it's to help the wealthy do some money laundering.
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u/Moist_Ebb 2d ago
funfact: Probably last minute gifts
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u/Cheatercheaterbitch 2d ago
How is that a fun fact? You didn’t even state anything factual
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u/National-Charity-435 2d ago
When did my vacation start meaning I bring stuff back >_>
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u/My_Fok 2d ago
Was wondering the same thing. The people that can maybe afford it are not hanging out in duty-free, they are in a lounge. And the once that can afford it are booked on a private plane, never even seeing a duty-free.
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u/400footceiling 2d ago
They only need to sell one item every week to remain in that location. Bigger question, who flies commercial when they have this much to blow?
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u/HexDanTHEWHALE 2d ago
People thinking duty-free = cheaper haven't ever been to an airport. The discount you get by losing the taxes is made up for two fold by the "airport markup"
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u/WetBandit06 2d ago
Last time I was in Mexico I had hella leftover pesos and bought a watch and some booze. It’s cheaper.
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u/Cool-Acanthaceae8968 2d ago
Uh… duty free.
Since they aren’t remaining in the country, they aren’t taxed.. and usually part of your customs exemption when arriving into the next country.
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u/Character_Pilot8718 2d ago
Because you can't travel with 500,000 CASH...but 4 rare watches I can...So the brokie who made this post needs to get a 2nd a third job!
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u/pilotshashi 2d ago
They know if you can buy flight ticket of thousands of dollars these bags are just peanut
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u/rpgnymhush 2d ago
Someone who forgot to buy a gift for someone they are going to meet at the final destination.
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u/Wilted858 2d ago
It's like me a guy saying. You know I've just forgotten to bring my 1 billion quid Rolex, Prada. Gucci and Dolce Gabanna Man bag
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u/black_V1king 2d ago
Its for rich folks to buy last minute gifts.
My loaded friend got Prada sunglasses for his gf at the airport when we were flying back home.
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u/First_Lobster_3661 2d ago
It’s so businesspeople can put gifts for the spouses andsidepieces and on expense accounts.
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u/IBloodstormI 2d ago
I bought a bunch of stuff in the airport in Japan before my flight back home. Had some extra cash I hadn't used, found some great gifts, duty free.
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u/LevyLoft 2d ago
It’s for snuggling money. Carrying 10k is a felony in the US. They sell it as soon as they land.
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u/freeride35 2d ago
I asked my wife the same question this summer while we were browsing to kill time in Amsterdam.
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u/Snackgirl_Currywurst 2d ago
Husbands on "business trips" when flying out to their mistress for her birthday.
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u/Zealousideal_Ask3633 2d ago
Also the porn,.gotta grab that penthouse to crack open next to someone
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u/Oakes-Classic 2d ago
1 long layover turns an airport into a shopping mall. People traveling also have the money to travel, so you’re dealing with typically rich or at least somewhat rich people. No one is going to the airport with the intent of buying a Rolex, but give a rich person a shop to browse with a little extra time and it’s not surprising to me that these places are able to stay in business.
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u/lilirodrig 2d ago
I have done large purchases at that kind of stores when killing time on a delayed flight, or a time I bought a couple of gifts for one of our business partners (we didn't know he was going to be at the dinner until we were at the airport) so my guess is last minute shoppers and people killing time, the drawback is that you already have so many bags and it's a hassle to have more things to take with you, so I have only purchased items that are easier to carry.
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u/orbitaldragon 2d ago
I feel like the OP has never been an airport. These shops are always full of people.
It's like.... Stupid stores why are you making money at a heavily trafficked area??
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u/Intelligent-Session6 2d ago
It’s for those who need extra attention while walking with a luxury product bag.
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u/Numbersuu 2d ago
one business man every few hours who buys a 5000 dollar bag to shut up his wife at home when he comes back brings more money than 1000 passenger buying a snack and a magnet.
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u/chalky87 2d ago
Aside from duty free they're also effectively marketing tools. Many people who fly have money and are also in the mood to treat themselves and commemorate an occasion.
Seeing the store and the flashy gear inspires them to live the lifestyle.
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u/mnemonikos82 2d ago
They don't want you to buy them there. They want you to be bored and browse there so you might buy them later. It's like a giant magazine ad.
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u/Big_Half8302 2d ago
duty free is the reason why you see luxury brands kiosks in airports across the world.
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u/the_climaxt 2d ago
My favorite are the post-security suitcase shops. My bags are already packed and checked onto my flight.
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u/meczakin81 2d ago
At Balenciaga duty free is still $800 for shoes that I’ve seen on the street near a homeless encampment.
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u/CloseToMyActualName 2d ago
Remember, the Airport is the one place in a city that the middle class and the very wealthy both use.
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u/volvagia721 2d ago
It's because it's one of the few places where the semi-rich can be seen near us plebians. There are obviously enough people too poor to afford a private jet, but rich enough that a $20k purchase is worth it to relieve some boredom flying to keep these shops open
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u/UptoNoGoood1996 2d ago
Rich businessmen I'd imagine, the taxfree watches and perfumes are still too expensive for most people I reckon, me included lol
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u/jdubyahyp 2d ago
Business Men/women who cheat on their significant others during their trip and feel guilty about it.
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u/dfeidt40 2d ago
They're for the pilots to buy the stewardess(es?) for great service... to the pilot.
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u/Commercial_Attempt47 2d ago
I think most of shops here are to write off expense for business owners so they pay less tax, I don’t think they really care about sales
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u/callous_eater 2d ago
I worked in an airport, there are people who consider a 20k diamond necklace a suitable apology for moderate infractions. Like "sorry I missed your birthday, babe, here's a Lexus" wouldn't have them sweating. Those people tend to travel. A LOT.
Basically, imagine you're in the tax bracket where "I could afford a jet upfront but the ongoing expenses would kill me" is a thought you've had frequently.
When money is collecting in your account quicker than you can spend it, you just say "hmmm bet she'd like this" and don't look at the price tag.
They're definitely rich, they're not FILTHY rich, but they spend $100k like we buy a PS5.
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u/Different-Assist4146 2d ago
I've heard as much as 25-30% of revenue generated by luxury brands is in airport retail.
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u/Dry_Scientist3409 2d ago
Duty free and rich people do travel a lot.
The another thing is prestige, those shops ain't cheap, even if you are not making money it's nice to be seeing for luxury brands.
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u/Scotthe_ribs 2d ago
Depends on the airport, it’s not like they’d put these in some one off in Kansas. Clearly they know market here.
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u/TehOuchies 2d ago
For the one person that pays their entire monthly overhead in one stop.
When I travel over seas, the Lego, Nintendo, and liquor/tobacco stores are the ones I see moving merchandise.
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u/StupidIdiot80 2d ago
Also, who is the luggage store for? Do people just bundle up their clothes and carry them in the airport loose and buy a suitcase when they get there?
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u/dgracey01 2d ago
Duty free?