Saving money—the advantage of duty free buying

Press, 14 December 1977, Page 28

Saving money —the advantage of duty free buying

The most obvious advantage of .buying duty free is saving money. in many cases you can save a considerable amount of money. Radios and camera equipment are well under half-price duty free. You can save about 50 per cent on cigarettes and spirits. In fact, on most of the more than 4500 items sold at the Christchurch Duty Free Shop you will safe one-third to one-half of the retail price. The reason the Duty Free Shop can sell so cheaply is that it is exempt from import duties an sales tax, and does not have to work through a middleman. The Duty Free Shop buys directly from the manufacturer and only has to add on its own profit. Consider, for example, the savings on buying cameras duty free. Photographic equipment has one of the highest rates of duty and sales tax. The import duty on cameras is 17.5 per cent and the sales tax is 50 per cent. Before a camera reaches the customer at a retail outlet, it has had the importers profit and the retailers profit added on. There is a catch, of course. To buy duty free <ou must leave the country. You must also pay the duty for your goods in foreign "currency. Another advantage of duty free shopping is that the shop sells many goods which are not available from any other outlet in New Zealand. Because the Duty Free Shop is earning the country overseas funds, its import licence gives the directors freedom to import any items they want. Mr A. J. Schneideman, governing director of International Importing, Ltd, the company which holds Christchurch’s duty free licence, travels overseas frequently looking for new merchandise for the Shop. He often encounters surprise from manufacturers when they learn he wants to take their goods to New Zealand. They often try to tell him he cannot do it, but are pleasantly surprised when he informs them he can. The Christchurch Duty Free Shop sells merchandise from more than 20 countries. In one stop you can buy sapphires and rubies from Thailand, diamonds from Israel, and Alabaster ornaments from Italy- You can buy perfumes from Paris, pearls from Japan and watches from Switzerland. You can buy anything from a Nikon F2 camera body for $520 and a diamond for $4OOO to a' matchbox toy for $2.10. The Duty Free Shop stocks a wide range of spirits. Their liquers include Tia Maria for $6.60 a bottle, Drambuie for' $5.90 and Grand Marnier for $9.50. Whiskys, Johnnie Walker Red Label, White Horse, Vat 69, Black and. White and Dewars White

Label are all $3.80 a bottle. The bourbons include Jack Daniels for $8.40 and Early Times at $3.70 a bottle. If you like brandy, there are Hennessy Cognac Ras Arme for $9.60 and Remi Martin for $13.20. • Bacardi Rum is $3.50 and Pimms is $3.50. This is just a small sampling of the extensive range of liquors available at the shop. The shop carries more than 25 different kinds of cigarettes and a wide selection of cigars, including Henri Wintermans. Ritmeester, Willem II and Schimmelpenni nek. There are 50 different cigarette lighters to choose from in the Ronson line alone. The shop also has lighters by Dunhill, Win and Colibri. Handbags from all over the world grace the shop’s shelves. There are Oroton cocktail and evening bags, purses, handbags and shoulder bags. Oroton is made in West Germany. Also from West Germany are goat skin, crocodile and bison skin bags. From the United States come Whiting and Davis’s mesh handbags. From Italy come Florentine anc Venetian leather bags. There are tooled •owhide bags from Mexico and various coloured turtle, crocodile and snake skin bags from Spain. French sunglasses seem to be in vogue today, and the Duty Free Shop has Nina Ricci glasses from $21.40 and Yces Saint Laurent from $27.90. The shop stocks Asahi Pentax, Carl Zeiss and Uniscop binoculars ranging from around $3O to $l2O. The photography enthusiast will not know where to start looking for a camera. In 35mm single lens reflex cameras, there are Asahi Pentax, Canon, Olympus, Nikon and Nik’ kormat, Miranda, Minolta and Praktica. There is also a wide selection of lenses available for those cameras. There are plenty of in-stant-load cameras to choose from, movie cameras, movie projectors, slide projectors and flashguns. In the sporting line are Nordica ski boots, and Rossigna) skis. The Nordica boots are priced from $B5 to $lll. The shop has a range of Wilson Tennis and Squash rackets, as well as Marlin depth sounders. For the fisherman there are rods, reels, fishing tackel and even an inflatable two-man raft. Golfing enthusiasts will find a set of John Letters Gary Player gold clubs, with four woods and 10 irons for $346. Wilson" Patty Berg Ladies’ Golf Clubs are $173. The Duty Free Shop carriss radios, digital clock radios and cassette from National Sanyo and Sony. Radios range from $6.70 for a Sanyo RP1250 one

band, to $146.60 for a national RFUBOB six band, 19 transistor. Car combination radio/stereo cassette players start at $lOO. Digital clock radios range from $34 to $7B. The Duty Free Shop carries stereo equipment by Akai, Sony, Sanyo, National and Sansui. Mr Schneideman is particularly proud of the shop’s beautiful selection of porcelain, figurines, and ornaments from all over the world. He has brought in I.ladro from Spain. Capi de Monte from Italy, Bing and Brondahl from Denmark and Hummel from Germany. There is also a selection of alabaster ornaments from Italy, and onyx handcarved bookends, ash trays, figures and paper weights from Mexico. The range of perfumes available at the Duty Free shop is enormous. The selection includes Rochas, Jean d’Albert, Nina Ricci, Hermes, Guy Laroche, Lancome, Carven, Caron, Jean Patou, Guerlain, Oroton, Yves Saint Laurent, Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, Lanvin, Chanel, Faberge and Worth, all from Paris. Pringle Knitwear of Scotland provides the shop with a fine selection of iambswool and Cashmere knitwear. From Norway there is a large and colourful range of hand knitted, wool ski jerseys. Watchmakers represented at the shop are Butova, Omega, GirardPerragaux, Nivada, Edox, Tisot, Seiko and Citizen. The extremely accurate quartz watch is becoming increasingly popular these days. Among the Duty Free Shops’s range of quartz watches are the Omega Chrono-quartz, the Bulova Accutron Accuquartz starting at $llO, the Gir a r d-Perregaux quartz watches from $l3O, the Nivada Travan Accutron Chronograph from $221 and the Seiko digital quartz from $137. In the jewellery line, the Duty Free Shop has a wealth of items available. Mikimoto, leaders in the world’s pearl industry, have necklaces, brooches, earrings, rings and bracelets. Silver clasp pearl necklaces range from $92 for a 16in to $2OO for a 42in. Other jewellery includes sterling silver pieces from Mexico and Denmark, and amethyst, citrine and smokey quartz, rings from Spain. There is also a selection of sterling silver jewellery from Greece, Germany, Italy and Finland, as well as handcrafted jewellery from England. You will find diamonds ranging in price from $lO5 to $4OOO, sapphires, rubies, rhinestone necklaces, handmade crystal bracelets, coral pendants and gilt bracelets. To adorn the men are Stratton cuff links from England, Pierre Cardin cuff links from France, and from the United States, Swank cuff links. Other items available to overseas travellers at the Duty Free Shop include calculators, umbrellas, cosmetics, compacts,