Hong Kong Airport Duty Free Shopping
 

I am going to have an hour and a half layover in HK on my way to Malaysia and was hoping to do a bit of shopping at the airport during the layover. I haven't been to HK since about 1997 and have never passed through the new airport. Does anyone know how the prices are there? I'm mainly interested in picking up a few "essentials"--champagne and Chanel make-up. I usually buy these things at Singapore's Changi and find the prices there to be pretty good, especially on the Chanel. How do HK's duty free shops measure up to Changi's? To give some perspective on the wine, here in NY, I usually pay about $40 for Moet & Chandon, $37.00 for Veuve Cliquot, $35.00 for Pieper Heidsick. Will I do at least as well at HK's airport? I definitely want a couple of bottles for the trip but would rather not drag them from NY. I'm not looking for Kristal quality or even Dom Perignon (unless it's really inexpensive ;-) ), just some decent bubbly to enjoy with my husband in our hotel room.

I'm not too sure about the Champagne that you've mentioned but last month I was in Hong Kong and did noticed the following:

Dom Perignon 96 at about HK $1,300. Lynch Barge 94 at HK $850.

Perhaps you can use my example to compare prices in NY.

For cosmetic prices try:

http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/skymart/index.jsp

Thanks for that Hanuman. I don't know if the price for the Dom P is good or not, it may be since it is vintage, but it's way more than I want to spend! I went to the site you mentioned and they do have the Veuve Cliquot, but no prices are given. I couldn't find much in the way of cosmetics but I just skimmed the site, I'll have to go back and click on all the links!

i'll call coco and have her send you a litre...

my address book says she died ten years ago...sorry

A litre of what, face make-up? I'd say, being dead for 10 years, she needs it more than me!

lol, laurie!!

By the way, I found the duty-free prices to be better in KL than in Hong Kong. But if you are just looking to pick up a bottle of bubbly to drink on your trip, you'll certainly find something. (I bought a bottle of Bollinger Rose Savage champagne in SIngapore to take to Lombok - it was fabulous!)

Hi Kathie, Since I'll be passing through HK both ways, I can compare the prices on the Chanel at both HK and KL and see which is better and buy accordingly. I find Chanel to be quite a bit cheaper at the duty free in Asia compared to here in the States. I typically save about $20 on a set of 4 eyeshadows and about $12 on blush. Unfortunately they never seem to have the color face make-up I wear so I end up paying top dollar for that at Macy's. I have more than enough make-up to bring to Malaysia and I doubt I'll be wearing any in the jungles of Borneo anyway. The chamapagne on the other hand is necessary to have while there. My husband and I have a sort of ritual of drinking champagne when we see each other (I should explain--we have a commuter marriage and see each other every other weekend. He lives and works in Albany, NY and I live and work in NYC, about 150 miles apart). We usually drink an inexpensive Australian sparkling wine that is quite good, but for special occassions and vacations, we like something better and something French. I'm going up to Albany tomorrow and we have a bottle of Veuve Cliequot to celebrate my birthday :-) The prices for champagne at JFK duty free are terrible, I pay less for Moet at my local liquor store! Hopefully HK will have something decent but maybe I'll bring one bottle from NY just in case.

It's a fine tradition, laurie! HKG will certainly have some good champagnes for you to choose from.

while i don't shop for handbags or makeup at airport duty free shops, i do look at wines, scotch, and other spirits, i found the prices at duty free hongkong very expensive. these sentiments are shared by my friends.

duty free prices for these items at changi are the best i've seen.

kuranosuke
no chanel or gucci for mrs. kuranosuke?

kuranosuke, thanks for that tip. I guess in order to play it safe, I'd better bring a couple of bottles from NY. If we see anything decent at HK airport, we can always pick up another bottle. You can never have too much champagne! The only worry is, if we come into Malaysia with more than 2 bottles, we will be over the liquor allottment allowed to be brought in. Do you (or anyone) know how strict the customs people are, or are they like most places and you just go to the "green line" and no one even looks at you. If they try and confiscate my champagne, I swear, I'll open the bottle and drink it on the spot!

hawaaiiantraveler; no make trouble.:-).

laurieco; don't know about bringing spirits into malaysia, but i always pack a couple of grgich hills chard and fume blanc when i go to singapore. its in my luggage so never had a problem. if fact most times, i hardly see any customs agents at all.

however, one time coming across from jahore bahru with a couple bottles of wine, i was stopped on the sing side of the border by a young customs officer who discovered the wine in my luggage. i wasn't trying to hide or summgle it in. i thought i could bring in two bottles of wine, however, this young officer sent me to see his superior in the office.

so, i went to see his supervisor, and explained why i standing there in front of him. he shook his head, asked me to have a seat, then we talked about the wine i bought, like he was killing time. sure enough, after about five minutes, he got up , shook my hand, and said "to go and enjoy your wine and singapore, and come back again." i sensed he was a bit annoyed that i was sent to him for such a trivial matter, but at the same time, did not want to discourage the young agent from diligently doing his job. wines are very cheap in malaysia, expensive in sing.

Re bringing in more than your allowance. I returned to HK today and for the first time was asked to have my bags screened. Have lived here a year, traveled out about 20 times and this has never happened. Was not just me - a bunch of people were asked. I do not think they were looking for alcohol but assume if they found it you would have to pay the penal duty. In general baggage screening is becoming tighter (tho in Singapore last month we were not singled out) - maybe the terrorist threat.

Thanks for the warning hobbes. I wonder how the customs will be in KL. I suppose if we get caught with an extra bottle, I wouldn't mind paying the duty to bring it in, what I don't want is to have it confiscated. Like I said earlier, I'd drink it rather than have them take it from me.

I wouldn't test my luck with the Malaysian customs. I don't think an authority that's <b>extremely tough</b> on drug traffiker would be particularly easy on booze traffiker.

I have never found wine to be less expensive than what I can find at home in a duty free shop. This includes those on sale on the duty free shop. DP 96 for example is about $100/bottle with tax here. Tend to buy NV Champagne for less than $25.
My wife does however find her cosmetics to be alittle less in many duty free stores.

It's settled then, we'll bring a couple of bottles of bubbly from home. I do find the price of certain cosmetics to be much cheaper at Asian airport duty free shops, most notably Chaingi and BKK's Don Muang. Not all however. If you're in the market for American made, such as Estee Lauder or Clinique, there are no bargains. Chanel on the other hand is a terrific buy at these airports.

When you arrive in Malaysia, you are able to buy duty free in the arrival hall, before you take the tram for customs, etc. We noticed many Malaysians buying. We did not check the prices for alcohol, but like you, I stock up on Chanel. My method is to have a list of the items I want, jot down the price in HK, jot down on entering Malaysia, and buy on the way home. Last trip, Hong Kong was lower.

two, I had forgotten that you can buy duty-free at KLIA when you arrive. Laurie, the prices for duty free in KL are certainly better than in Hong Kong.