CAPTIVE CUSTOMERS - STOCK HOME SYNDROME

 I don't travel much, but recent trips to BLR, HYD. DEL on domestic flights have shown up an interesting obs on.

High End brands- both Local and Foreign, having these massive stores- Hermes, Omega, Mont Blanc,Chanel, Hidesign, Tumi, Samsonite  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ev-BtPMM8  et al investing heavily with revenue share with the airport operator.

Spoke to a few managers. They say they make more money in their airside stores than they do in their city stores.

Why? Let's examine.

City stores are high street, difficult to access in traffic. park.

Airports are time that has stopped for you till you board.

All the new airports are way out of the city, trap you for a couple of hours and a HNI  gets frozen in time for personal purchases and gift purchases.

Sales per sq foot which is the retail metric shoot through the roof even if you share revenue with airport operator.

Time Value of Money? Money value of time?

I had written a PhD Thesis proposal back in 2010 on Airport retail. Got rejected.  Glad to see the projection work.

 LIFE'S JOYS AND SMILES

Was at the local convenience store today, paying for a sandwich to the cashier girl behind the counter.

A kid sidled up, pint-sized, the girl blushed, and he ordered 2 coffees and said, aaj aapki Musarrat thodi kam hai.

My ears perked up- Musarrat means smile in Awadh Urdu - Muskarahat, Arabic origin. I looked at him and asked him -Awadh? He said Faizabad. Name? Ramyash?

I grinned. Lord Ram of Ayodhya would have enlisted him on the spot.