Duty free shops at Moscow airports are empty and set horse prices

The theater begins with a hanger, and the flight begins with duty free. Buying new perfume or lipstick before traveling was a tradition for many. Such an opportunity has not gone anywhere (seemingly!) – duty free works, there was even a recent reconstruction, but something has subtly changed.

As soon as you put your passport and boarding pass in your bag and approach the counters with the supposed duty-free abundance, you are rushed to cut across – as if you were her last hope for a percentage of sales! – sultry lady consultant:

– Try it, we have a lot of new, delicious!

I do not hold back from the hairpin:

– Tasty, probably, it is better to look not with you, but in a pastry shop?

– And we have such aromas! The lady didn’t hesitate. – Delicious.

Okay, tasty ones are so tasty – what can you do … Please show me what they can offer here.

Miracles do not happen – the assortment is predictable. Everything that is in chain perfumery stores in Moscow is also in duty free. Everything that has not been in chain perfumery stores in Moscow for a long time is not in duty-free.

– Are you looking for something specific?

Well, maybe I’m looking for … Offhand I pronounce a couple of names of perfumes that I would really gladly buy if they were suddenly found here. But the miracle never happens again.

– No, I’m sorry, it’s not there … Let’s pick a different flavor for you? – The consultant does not slow down.

Without waiting for the free rethinking of the replica to sound again: “Bird, fly there, there is a lot of delicious food!”, I politely say goodbye to the lady – and once again look around the trading floor. Yes, everything is really like in any Moscow store.

On the shelves of those brands that solemnly announced their departure from Russia in the spring of 2022, there is emptiness – if there is anything left from Chanel, Hermes or Dior, then only the remnants of former luxury. Those brands that still continue to bring something to Russia, even if through parallel imports, delight with the usual assortment, and sometimes even with new products.

By the way, I just see one of these new products, which I read about just the other day. I go up to the counter, pick up a test bottle – and another consultant immediately materializes next to me.

– I can help you?

Thank you, I would like to try this new fragrance.

– Let’s pick you something from our brand?

The consultant, it seems, turned out to be a representative of a competitor – and she is not ready to miss a potential buyer. There aren’t many of us here today.

– No, thank you, I would like to try this fragrance.

– Our brand has a lot of interesting new products!

Thank you, I would like to try this fragrance.

The automatic answering robot mode – repeating the same phrase with the same intonation until the interlocutor understands – still helps. The key to success here is not to be nervous and not annoyed. I calmly do what I wanted – I sprinkle perfumes of interest on my hand – I politely nod and go home. Yes, it must be admitted that in Moscow in recent years we have greatly lost the habit of such a level of importunity of consultants – city introverts nevertheless forced them to accept their rules of the trading game.

Slowly moving to the desired boarding gate, I explore the huge duty free further. A little further away from the giant store – another, less noticeable, but in fact much more … hmm, saturated. There is only perfumery here, and the one that is usually called “niche”: the one that is not supposed to be in ordinary chain stores. And – suddenly! – it really is here, not only the empty test bottles are standing.

To judge the price level – is it still profitable to buy here or not? – it is most convenient for well-known bottles. Here, 125 ml of Chanel’s eau de toilette, which not only left Moscow, but did not even have time to get there at all – the sanctions struck before the novelty of 2022 reached the Russian Federation. I bought this bottle last fall in the Antalya duty free for 130 euros: that is its “native” price, on the official website it is priced at about the same. Here they ask for 280 euros for it. Such a good difference! If anything, at today’s exchange rate – 25 thousand rubles with a little scarlet tail.

Compare again: in online stores that produce parallel imports today, such a bottle is sold for 23 thousand rubles. Well, in such situations, who needs this duty-free of yours?

But on the next counter – a good offer! The creation of one of the “niche” French perfumers, widely known in narrow circles, is lilies of the valley, citruses, musk, “the aroma of purity and crispy sheets” and other colorful descriptions. In the “parallel” online store – 6489 rubles for one mini-bottle of 11 ml. In duty free – 118 euros for a set of three (!) of these miniatures. This is where it really comes in handy.

Only there is a nuance. Who’s flying out of the international lounge today? We look at the scoreboard: Belgrade, Minsk, Yerevan, Osh, Baku, Bangkok, Bishkek, Istanbul, Samarkand… Well, no one expected flights to London-Paris, everyone remembers about the closed sky. Most on this list are flights to EEAS countries, and for passengers on such flights, prices will be slightly higher. Not so bad, if you remember that just a year ago, those who fly to Yerevan or Tashkent were not allowed into duty-free at all, but still, duty-free shopping does not look so duty-free anymore.

– Looking for something specific? the voice of another consultant breaks into his thoughts.

Rather, out of sporting interest, I again name the goods of interest. And it’s quiet here too.

“Look over there, next door. They just recently opened after reconstruction, they should have new supplies, – the girl advises.

I shrug: no, they say, your neighbors had it, they have completely empty shelves and sad clearings. I compliment:

– By the way, you have a more interesting assortment, I see a lot of good things here.

“So we have old stocks from the warehouse,” now it’s the saleswoman’s turn to shrug, “when they run out, we won’t have anything either.”

Here we talked.

Here, by the way, import substitution has not yet begun. If there is emptiness on the shelves, then there is precisely an honest emptiness, and not attempts to present the creations of some young and promising Russian perfumer instead of the products of the house of Dior.

There is only one conclusion that suggests itself: all passengers of international flights are flying somewhere – therefore, they will fly back. And in duty-free on the way back – in Istanbul, Tashkent, Belgrade or Yerevan – happiness can smile at a much more adequate price and in a much larger assortment.

However, honest emptiness and scarcity are only for the perfume department. In that part of duty-free, where citizens buy alcohol before the flight, everything is fine – if some specific goods were lost, their absence was cleverly masked by analogues: only those who came specifically for it will notice the lack of their favorite brand of whiskey. However, most alcoholic beverages are available. The prices are not impressive. Who needs a bottle for 12 euros, if in any supermarket you can take it for a promotion for 1099 rubles?

A new trend is a considerable amount of Russian wines on the shelves. Well, that’s also right – Well, the liveliest of all living in the area of ​​​​international departures – a kiosk selling black caviar. The smallest jar with a volume of 35 ml costs 7,300 rubles, and for the largest, two hundred grams, they ask for 56 thousand.

– Do not hesitate! All caviar is natural, without additives!

I have no doubt: there is nothing to be afraid of – in matters of black caviar, we are definitely not tied to imports from unfriendly countries!