Posts in the category "Shopping":

It’s Souvenir Sunday, a day to celebrate some of the fun, local and, hopefully, inexpensive souvenirs you can pick up when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week’s souvenirs come to us from the Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ) in Nova Scotia.

At this busy Canadian airport, Clearwater Seafoods offers a wide variety of live and cooked lobsters for travelers to take home with them, along with Nova Scotia scallops and smoked salmon.

According to shop manager Michelle Porter, during the busiest parts of the tourist season (spring, summer and fall), hundreds of pounds of fresh lobster are delivered to the airport daily and the shop packs them up for passengers to take with them as carry-on luggage.

“We do recommend passengers carry their lobsters with them. Our Lobster can be checked if you’d prefer but we cannot guarantee that they will make it to their destination,” said Porter.

For travelers who would rather not travel with live or cooked lobsters, Clearwater Seafoods also sells lobster gummy candy and these adorable stuffed lobsters, which come in sizes large ($10.99) and small ($7.99).

Do you poke around the shops when you’re stuck at the airport? If you find something that’s fun, inexpensive and “of” the city or region, please snap a photo, take some notes and them along. If your souvenir is featured on StuckatTheAirport.com, I’ll send you a travel-related souvenir.

Categories: Shopping, Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs
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Yay! Free Wi-Fi is coming to Houston’s Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental airports.

Currently, travelers at these airports can get 45 minutes of complimentary Wi-Fi via Boingo, but according to this article in the Houston Business Journal, the Houston airport authority, is looking at getting a new Wi-Fi provider and offering free Wi-Fi by the end of the year.

And good news for Bigfoot fans. A StuckatTheAirport.com reader wanted to know if the Bigfoot mugs I wrote about a while back were still for sale at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA). According to Jeff Martin, the general manager of the Hudson Group shops at Sea-Tac, the mugs – and some other Bigfoot finds – are for sale at Discover Puget Sound [Central Terminal] and in the Hudson news locations at A-3, B-6, and the North and South Satellites. A line of Bigfoot coffee should also be for sale soon. Martin says “Apparently Bigfoot prefers a dark French Roast…but we’ll also carry a Breakfast Blend.”

No word on how many Bigfoot mugs or bags of my favorite Seattle souvenir, Space Noodles, have been sold, but the airport recently shared some surprising statistics about other items sold on-site.

Anthony’s Restaurant, the main sit-down restaurant in the central terminal, is the highest grossing airport restaurant in North America. During 2012 revenues totaled $12.8 million.

Notable product sales at Sea-Tac airport include:
1.7 million bottles of water
230,000 bags of M&Ms
90,000 neck pillows
20,000 copies of the best-selling book “Fifty Shades of Grey”
And nearly 10,000 “Sleepless in Seattle” nightshirt and pajamas.

Categories: Shopping, Wi-Fi
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Last minute shopper? Consider this alligator head; for sale at Miami International Airport

Low-quality T-shirts, key chains and shot glasses emblazoned with slogans from your hometown are a sure-fire giveaway that your holiday shopping was a last-minute gift-grab at the airport newsstand.

If you’re heading to the airport this holiday season with that same routine in mind, do your friends and family a favor: Once you get past the security checkpoint, look around.

Shopping is easier than ever, and airports offer kiosks and shops that offer presents far more desireable than previous years.

Early flight or late-night red-eye? No problem. Most airport shops keep travelers’ hours.

Worried about price-gouging? Don’t be — many airports have a street pricing policy, which means items for sale inside the terminal must cost no more than they do at the mall.

Been too busy to shop? We have you covered. Here are some fun, locally-themed airport items:

Any holiday tree surely has room for one more ornament. At New York’s JFK Airport, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Shop in Terminal has New York City-themed ornaments, including the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, New York taxi cabs and Rockefeller Center. Plus, travelers can buy one and get another (of equal or lesser value) for half-price.

Shops in Central Terminal B at New York’s LaGuardia Airport include Discover NY and InMotion Entertainment and all but a few retail outlets (and restaurants) there are honoring the universal 20 percent off coupon available on the Food & Shops website.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor International, fliers can purchase area-appropriate gifts such as Arizona Prickly Pear chocolate bars and taffy or bundles of holiday tamales (both El Bravo and Sir Veza’s Taco Garage offer them) that are cooked, packaged, frozen and ready for travel.

Full bottles of wine don’t make the cut at airport checkpoints these days, but Vino Volo has 14 post-security branches with retail sections offering quality local and national selections. The branch at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, for example, has several wines in stock made and only marketed in Michigan. Rather bring chocolate? Gayle’s Chocolate based in nearby Royal Oak, sells chocolate Model Ts, Corvettes and other car models, as well as chocolate motorcycles (prices vary from $16 to $45) at Detroit Metro Airport as well.

Travelers flying south from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska can pick up reindeer meat jerky ($10.05/12 ounces) at Moosellanous or stop by Alaska Luggage and Seafood to get halibut, salmon, shrimp crab or scallops packed for travel in carry-on boxes. A branch of Silver Gulch, a brewery near Fairbanks, opened at the airport this month and offers growlers ($10-$14) and six-packs of Epicenter (named in honor of the 1964 earthquake) and other beers to go.

In Oregon — where there’s no sales tax — even locals with no flight plans head to Portland International to shop on the pretty, pre-security, indoor street filled with branches of name-brand local shops. The Pendleton shop has roll-up motor robes with nice leather carrying straps ($88) and the Made in Oregon store stocks conversation-starter T-shirts and caps that say “Keep Oregon Weird” (under $20).

Genuine alligator heads and claws ($12.95-$34.95) as well as locally-made, hand-rolled cigars ($8.95) are popular items at the Gifts to Go stores at Miami International Airport while, up north, the AMERICA! stores in Newark Liberty, Dulles and Reagan National airports stock Commander-in-Chief hats, jackets, cufflinks, pens and other items as well as many First Lady-themed gifts.

And if you are one of the last-LAST-minute shoppers who find yourself seated on your plane but still without gifts, there’s one last-gasp option: buying gifts on the plane. In-flight Wi-Fi usually provides access to shopping sites — even for travelers who don’t pay for Internet access.

In other words, if you’re flying Christmas Eve, you can buy gift cards and other e-deliverable items that should arrive just about the time Santa and his reindeer head back to the North Pole.

(My story about holiday shopping at the airport first appeared on NBC News Travel)

Categories: Shopping
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In November, 2012, a store called the Liquor Library opened at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, offering wine, beer, liquor, mixers and other to-go party items in the Terminal 1 baggage claim area.

The to-go trend continues with the opening of a branch of the Silver Gulch brewery at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC).

Silver Gulch, a brewery and retail outlet near Fairbanks, Alaska, opened its airport branch on December 1st and sells growlers and six packs of beer, including Epicenter (named after the 1964 earthquake), Cheechako (a term used to describe a newcomer to Alaska) and 40 Below.

Categories: Shopping
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Tired of flying? Consider the bus.

Not sure if the bus is for you?  Megabus.com is offering you a ride for free.

The company’s rates are pretty cheap to begin with (as low as $1 a ticket, if you book really, really early), but this deal is  200,000 free seats for travel between January 9th and February 28, 2013 (subject to availability) to/from cities served by megabus.com in the USA and Canada.  Promo code TRYMEGABUS.

And there’s now a list of the 60 new shops and restaurants – including 22 local L.A. brands – coming to what’s being called New TBIT – the expanded Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) – at Los Angeles International Airport.

The first phase of New TBIT will include a Great Hall and boarding gates on the west side of the terminal. That is scheduled to open in Spring 2013.  The second phase – which includes new gates on the east side of the terminal, new federal security screening area, and an upgraded customs arrivals area – is expected to be completed by 2014.

Here is some of what’s in store for the new terminal:

• Top Chef Winner Michael Voltaggio will offer sandwiches at ink.sack;
• Upscale, modern Mexican food from the “Top Chef Masters”  duo of Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken at Border Grill;

Also

• Umami Burger, the L.A. outlet that was awarded GQ’s “Burger of the Year” title;
• 800 Degrees Pizzeria;
• III Forks (steakhouse),
• Sushi with fish air-shipped from Tokyo at Chaya or Lucky Fish by Sushi Roku;
• Petrossian Caviar & Champagne Bar;
•  Vino Volo;
• Short Cake and Vanilla Bake Shop (desserts, yay!)
• and one of the first Starbucks Evenings outlets, serving wine and small plates.

In addition to a wide range of duty-free options, retail will include:  Bvlgari,Emporio Armani, Kitson, Coach, Porsche Design, Tumi, Victoria’s Secret, the iStore Boutique, 7-Eleven, See’s Candies, Xpress Spa and Bliss, which will also offer manicures, pedicures and facials .

Here’s a link to the full list and more information about what’s coming – finally – to the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.

Can’t wait!

Categories: Shopping
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