There’s something about airports that sets my adrenaline to racing; probably because it usually means I’m about to embark on a journey somewhere, and God knows how much I adore travelling (true fact: I love airplane food). So it was with major excitement when I was recently contacted by Aer Rianta North America (ARI-NA), that I took them up on their offer of visiting the The Loop Duty Free shop at Montréal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, in particular, their newly opened MAC boutique where I would also be getting my makeup done by one of the specialists. The only downside? No real travel would be involved … le sigh …
As one of the world’s longest established and successful travel retail companies, Aer Rianta created the first duty-free shop at Shannon Airport (Ireland) in 1947, and today has branches all over the world including Canada (Montréal, Ottawa, Halifax, Winnipeg), Barbados, Cyprus (Larnaca, Paphos), Middle East (Beirut, Muscat, Bahrain), India (Delhi), and the latest in New Zealand (Auckland). The Montréal location store was renovated in 2014 (with more expansions already in the works) and encompasses 11,000 sq ft of retail space; all categories are covered, from cosmetics & fragrances (at least 20% lower than city prices, with MAC the exception at -15%), alcohol at 15% lower (than Montréal’s SAQ), fashion brands ranging between 15% – 30% lower (Longchamps, for example is at 30%), and many other travel exclusive products not available elsewhere for purchase. Oh, and did I mention that there’s NO sales tax? (yes, that’s part of the duty free experience, but I felt it needed to be emphasized!).
Upon arrival, we (my husband/photographer & I) were met by an associate of ARI-NA who outfitted us with ID badges and walked us through the security procedure; I went through fine, but my husband ‘beeped’ and was almost strip-searched, lol! Gotta love those random security screenings! We then entered the inner sanctum via an employee-only entrance and I swear, I heard angels singing; THAT’s the effect airports have on me, I tell you.
To sweeten the deal even further, my first glimpse of the behemoth that is The Loop Duty Free store made my jaw drop: beauty galore, as far as the eye could see. Yup….I had officially died and gone to beauty heaven, no other explanation. All the major brands are represented, both high end and mass-market (spotted: a tower of OPI lacquers), there’s The Great Wall of fragrance (seriously) that boasts all the popular scents (as well as exclusives and/or hard-to-find-elsewhere items), the Canadiana section features maple syrup products in countless variations, while tons of maple-leaf themed goodies abound (naturally, I couldn’t resist taking a selfie with the giant Moose-Mountie. Not very talkative, but a rather photogenic fellow). The liquor section is fully equipped with a broad selection of alcohol and even features a wall of hard-to-find and limited edition bottles of scotch/whiskey (they even had a whiskey tasting table set up and yes, I definitely tried a few out. You know, for the review). Next to the cosmetics and fragrances, I would have to say that my favourite section had to be the sweets, with enough chocolate varieties displayed, to make even Willy Wonka cry.
I finished the tour with a final stop at MAC and interestingly enough, it’s located right on the concourse itself rather than inside the actual shop – making it super convenient for passengers to peruse the products or even get a quick makeup touch-up before boarding a flight. Staying true to the brand’s aesthetic, this shop sports the ubiquitous MAC black, but is ramped up by way of an undulating shelving system as well as the graffiti-esque look of the brand’s logo. Once all my store & product photos were taken, I then had my makeup applied by the lovely Bianca (who happens to look eerily similar to Christina Aguilera) and leaving with a MAC gift bag in hand, this particular airport adventure was done.
Enjoy (or drool) over the following photos – a huge thank you to ARI-NA for arranging such a unique experience
As far as events go, this visit has to rank up there as one of the most unique for me, even if I didn’t get to travel or was allowed to actually shop {this time}. I’ve always been under the impression that duty free stores were somewhat behind re: beauty & fragrance collections, but I was pleasantly surprised to find quite an updated selection on many of the brands I explored during my visit to The Loop. Naturally, don’t expect to find the latest launches that just hit your usual beauty counters (primarily makeup), but that too can work in your favour if travelling; for starters, you’re getting a discount (always a GOOD thing) and if you happen to have missed out on a particular limited edition item from a past launch, there’s a high probability you’ll be able to score it at The Loop. While at MAC, I also discovered gift sets that were created specifically for duty free and that you won’t find anywhere else. Final bonus: the store hours, which are way longer than any mall store you’ll ever visit.
If travelling from Montréal, do make it a point to visit The Loop (international departures) … just make sure you don’t get carried away shopping and wind up missing your flight.
Visit kindly arranged arranged by Are Rianta North America (Montréal)
