Recent travels abroad have made me wonder why products from Wm. Grant & Sons aren’t available anymore. A couple of enquiries and talking to the sales people in the store revealed the story behind the removal of Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Grant’s from Norwegian Duty Free stores.
All whiskies from Wm Grant & Sons (Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Grant’s) have been absent from Norwegian Duty Free shops for about a year now. The same applies to Duty Free stores at many German and Austrian airports, as well as the ones in Budapest, Copenhagen and other who are a part of the Gebr. Heinemann-family.
The story goes that at a meeting (late 2007) between Gebr. Heinemann’s chief negotiator (a gent with the given name of Adolf) and Wm Grant & Sons’ Travel Retail division ended with Heinemann demanding a price reduction while Wm Grant demanded an increase. The meeting ended in Gebr. Heinemann delisting all Wm. Grant & Sons products.
Being the, at the time, third largest operator in the Travel Retail industry have given Gebr. Heinemann a bit of muscle when it comes to squize suppliers on price, but up againt the third largest whisky producer in the UK, the biggest selling malt in the world and the fourth biggest scotch brand in the world a stalemate has ensued.
Still no sign of anybody giving in.
Tags: Duty Free, Glenfiddich, Balvenie, Grant's, Wm. Grant & Sons, Gebr. Heinemann
