Duty-free shops

We asked readers to tell us what they buy at duty-free shops and why. Are there true bargains? Do the prices and selection vary in different countries? With the new airport security regulations, how do you handle your purchases? What advice can you offer? Below are replies received. If you have more to share, write to “Duty-Free Shopping,” c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818, or e-mail editor@intltravelnews.com (please include the address at which you receive ITN).

Duty-free shops are great places to get rid of the extra local currency. You usually get a better value than you would by changing the currency back to U.S. dollars. I don’t expect to get great deals (except in alcohol), but it always feels like I’ve gotten something for nothing.

Aside from alcohol, I usually buy things like sunscreen, body lotion or chocolates. It’s a fun way to entertain myself during long layovers, and it’s especially fun if there are local products.

I always take the purchases on board with me. I have not bought alcohol in duty-free since the new airline regulations about liquids, however.

NILI OLAY

New York, NY

When going through London’s Heathrow Airport on my way home, I have occasionally treated myself to a box of Walkers Shortbread and a bar of the best white chocolate. I have never compared prices so do not know if I’m getting bargains.

I checked prices on cashmere sweaters at Heathrow and found I could almost always get better buys at home, at least in the Seattle/Bellevue area.

When going through most airports in Africa I buy a bottle of Amarula Cream, a wonderful after-dinner drink which I have never found here.

Don’t buy on the way. Why cart items around? Buy on the return trip. I put things in my carry-on, but this is difficult now that we’re each limited to one and the purse has got to go in it.

PRISCILLA A. LONG

Mercer Island, WA

My favorite duty-free shopping is at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. It is huge but, as far as gates, etc., very well planned and marked. It is very easy to find your way around, although it takes a while since the airport is so large. Their screening procedures are very professional and efficient. They have several screeners who call each person aside and ask a few questions, so the lines go quite fast.

The shopping there is wonderful — candy shops where chocolates are made right in the shop, plus anything you’d be interested in looking for: clothing, liquors, perfumes, etc. I bought a Swatch while I was waiting for a flight and saw the same one in Vienna for about $15 more. There is also a pharmacy where you can buy health articles.

BEA EMANUEL

Minneapolis, MN

I have been purchasing my cosmetics (Lancôme, Shiseido and Dior) at the duty-free shops for the last 15 years, saving around 15% on my purchases.

I always purchase them on my way out of the U.S., since I have found the prices in duty-free shops in other countries to be much higher, frequently even more than the retail price in the U.S.

NANCY TAN

Fresno, CA

I will admit I am a bit of a lush and I like to find a good liquor deal as much as the next guy trying to drown his sorrows or celebrate his sudden rash of good fortune. So I window-shop at the duty-free shops the way my wife window-shops at New York City shoe stores — not buying much but taking it all in and daydreaming about making that shiny, hand-blown bottle of $100 elixir my own.

But I always have this nagging feeling that those screaming bargains aren’t really such a bargain, so I usually don’t buy much because I’m simply not convinced it’s worth the hassle, especially with all the luggage restrictions these days. For example, if you buy duty-free in one country and have a connecting flight in another, you have to stash that bottle in your checked luggage during the recheck. Got room? Have the time to deal with it? Think the bottle won’t break in transit?

But it’s only fair to compare, so in January 2007 I completed my very own comparison-shopping experiment. Yes, I looked a bit suspicious writing down prices in a duty-free shop and then looked suspicious again in my local liquor store, but that’s the life of a quasijournalist.

Here is what the sampling went for in Mexican airports and in the U.S.; all are one-liter bottles unless indicated otherwise. The result is as clear as a glass of Kahlua.

  • Bacardi Gold Rum — $17 duty-free, $17 + tax at home.
  • Sauza Hornitas Reposado Tequila (100% agave) — $17.50 duty-free, $27 + tax at home.
  • Bailey’s Irish Cream — $16 duty-free, $18 + tax at home.
  • Jose Cuervo 1800 Anejo Tequila (100% agave), 700ml — $47 duty-free, $33 + tax at home.
  • Kahlua coffee liqueur — $12 duty-free, $20 + tax at home.

  • Crown Royal Whisky — $38 for two duty-free, $30 for one at home.

So some items were a wash, some were clearly a better deal at duty-free (especially true when there’s a 2-for-1 deal going on), and in the case of the most expensive item the local liquor store was cheaper. Don’t draw a conclusion from that, though. I saw a bottle of Reserva de Familia tequila — some of the nicest stuff that has ever passed my lips — for $85 at duty-free, yet it goes for $120 to $140 in a lot of U.S. stores. And, for some strange reason, good rum is always a good deal in Mexican duty-free shops.

Keep in mind that this is a very unscientific survey based on a random batch of items in the Cancún and Merida airports and a liquor store in Nashville. Do your own due diligence, but the moral of the story is that you need to know the price of whatever you are inclined to buy so you’ll know if it’s really a screaming bargain or just something that looks like a bargain to tourists in spending mode. If it’s not significantly cheaper, the hassle factor is far less just throwing a bottle in your car when you’re back on the home front.

And keep in mind where you are when you do your shopping. Duty-free stores in Hong Kong and Tokyo are known to have the highest liquor prices in the world because they’re places where businessmen buy gifts to impress other businessmen and close the deal. Bourbon that costs $40 in the U.S. will go for $80 there and nobody blinks.

I also noticed that other items were an obvious bad deal. Cosmetics, chocolate and cigars were noticeably more at duty-free than they were in any local store. An informed consumer scores all the deals. The clueless get taken for a ride.

TIM LEFFEL

Nashville, TN