Stocking up in Hong Kong and making a return to Taipei

by Martin Moodie |
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Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

You don’t need a weatherman. To know which way the wind blows.
– Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan

Sometimes anecdotal experiences tell you more than the best analysts ever can.

Take a look at the photo above. I snapped it this morning in a Duty Zero by cdf store at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). It shows a hard-working store worker stocking up the Chunghwa cigarette supplies. And I mean stocking up a lot.

In fact, as I watched, his neat new display was quickly depleted as two women shoppers from Mainland China snapped up their preferred brand.

The cigarette brand – part of the retailer’s fantastic Chinese tobacco and spirits offer – is hot property in more ways than one with Mainland consumers. But its sales slowed to a trickle here during the prolonged dark days of the pandemic. That trickle is now being transformed into a flood, an indicator if ever there was one, that the good times are coming back at HKIA.

I always support travel retailers when I visit an airport. So did I opt for the Magnum of Château Pétrus 2013 at $60,700…
… or a bottle of my ‘go to’ Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc?

Another sign is the long, long queue (below) at the Eva Air check-in desk for flight BRO892 (Eva Air) to Taipei. But heck, who’s complaining? It looks like a full flight for the 70-minute journey to the island. Just the way it used to be. And the way, hopefully it will be for a long time to come.