Moscow prepares for UK football invasion

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Gavin Lipsith

19-May-2008

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Aer Rianta International ships in 110,000 bottles of vodka, 17.5m cigarettes and 10,000 bottles of champagne for the UK football fans set to descend on Moscow for the Champions League final this week

How do you cater for 50,000 British football fans? According to Moscow Duty Free, the provisions should include 110,000 bottles of vodka, 17.5m cigarettes and 9,500 boxes of souvenir Russian chocolates. That’s part of the huge stock order the retailer has placed in anticipation of the arrival of Manchester United and Chelsea football supporters in Moscow for the European Champions League final on Wednesday May 21.

The retailer, a joint venture managed by Aer Rianta International (ARI) at all three of Moscow’s international airports, is expecting its biggest-ever week as the final is played outside the European Union for the first time ever, entitling the visiting fans to purchase duty-free. On the days after the final, ARI expects an additional 30,000 transactions across its Moscow Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo airport stores, equating to one sale every three seconds for the three days after the match.

The retailer has also ordered in 130,000 Toblerones, 10,000 bottles of champagne, 4,500 bottles of VSOP cognac, 33,000 boxes of Lir chocolate truffles and 4,500 extra Lego sets. A carton of 200 cigarettes costs about £15 in Moscow Duty Free, while a bottle of vodka costs about £8.

ARI business development manager John Woodhouse said: “These will be the busiest business days Duty Free in Moscow has ever experienced. It would have been busy anyway but two English teams competing it will exceed even our most optimistic previous projections.”

The Champions League final comes almost 20 years to the day after ARI first entered the Russian market, at Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. Since then the retailer’s sales in the region have grown from $12m to over $300m last year.

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