The sun had not yet come up, and Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport was
practically empty at 6:30 a.m. on a chilly day last January, but the
Hermès boutique in Terminal 2E was open and the saleslady was more than
happy to show me the putty-colored Jypsière bag advertised in the window
for 4,600 euros. Did I mention it was 6:30 in the morning? I hadn't even
had a café crème yet and the bank where I hoped to change a pocketful of
euros back into pathetic dollars was still not staffed. But there I was,
already clocking 12 percent discounts at Hermès, Yves Saint Laurent, and
Prada. Once limited to tax-free cigarettes, vodka, and the occasional box
of chocolate, the $ 37 billion global duty-free shopping business has
taken on a whole new look since the concept made its debut in Ireland's
Shannon Airport in 1947. "If you walk through any airport you would think
the world was run by ten brands, "says Paris-based Italian designer
Giambattista Valli, referring to the plethora of Dior, Chanel, Prada, and
Gucci boutiques popping up alongside every runway. One of Valli's
discoveries on a recent trip to Asia was a trove of Pañpuri beauty
products at the Bangkok airport. Of course, fragrances and beauty
products have long been a staple of most duty-free shops. I remember
stocking up on such hard-to-find French pharmacy products as Embryolisse
and Avène at Orly airport in the mid 1990's. But these days, those quaint
pharmacies and organic beauty shops are often overshadowed by the more
glamorous luxury brands. Much of the growth in duty-free shopping in the
past 10 years can be attributed to security measures that force travelers
to arrive earlier and therefore spend more time at airports. Once they've
cleared security-potentially enduring the dreaded pat-down-fliers now
find themselves in a virtual luxury mall where the doors open at dawn and
often don't close until almost midnight.

My friend Michela Ratti, a fragrance executive based in Geneva, clued me
in to the bargains and services now available when she regaled me with
stories about tracking down a pair of "sold-out" Gucci boots at Milan's
Malpensa airport, shopping at the Valentino boutique in Rome's Fiumicino
Terminal 3, or calling ahead to her Chanel salesperson at Heathrow's
Terminal 3 to make sure they had a certain dress in her size. "It's my
obsession. If I could be anywhere in the world, I'd like to be in
Terminal 5 at Heathrow, "she says, laughing. That's where she finds
Smythson diary refills, Boots chemist vitamins, and a great Elemis spa.
Ratti regularly flies in and out of Geneva, Zurich, Venice, Milan's
Malpensa, JFK, and Heathrow, and often does her Christmas shopping at
Venice's Marco Polo airport. "In Zurich there's a whole side of duty-free
that's open until ten p.m. seven days a week, which is a real
convenience, "she says. "If you arrive late from a trip you can still buy
food to take home. "

The best duty-free shopping really does depend on the destination.
Madrid's Barajas Airport has a great selection of wines, Zurich has a
branch of the Swiss chocolatier Sprüngli, and Charles de Gaulle has
Hédiard, where Ratti has been known to buy a cheese plate, "if I'm
feeling brave and can sit with it on my lap on the plane! "The ne plus
ultra of duty-free shopping can be found in Hong Kong-"like New York's
Fifth Avenue in an airport "-that Ratti says is worth the detour. Even in
Nairobi, on the way home from a safari, Ratti discovered a store selling
beautiful locally produced children's pajamas and caftans.In my latest
early-morning spree at Charles de Gaulle I caressed piles of brightly
colored cashmere sweaters at Ralph Lauren, ogled Cartier's white-gold
Ballon Bleu watch, and even tried on Van Cleef & Arpels's long Alhambra
necklace. The Prada shop had a black-and-white-checked floor just like
the one in its Galleria Vittorio Emanuele shop in Milan, a detail that
seemed to make a black nylon trolley for $ 1,631 all the more alluring. I
considered buying a few chic Prada pouches in rich shades of fuchsia and
tangerine as last-minute gifts. And I even wandered into a kids' store
selling Burberry and Bonpoint. Seven in the morning still seemed awfully
early. Instead I settled on a Hello Kitty T-shirt for my daughter.