GERMANY. Salud Holding this week celebrated the second anniversary of its Heligoland duty free store.
Heligoland, a small German archipelago in the North Sea, is a popular holiday destination for German and Nordic tourists. Due to being excluded from the EU VAT zone and Customs Union, it holds duty free status for goods including liquor and tobacco. As well as offering access to ships, the island is accessible by small aircraft.
The retailer has been heavily affected by the pandemic, being forced to close the store between October 2020 and May 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“Today we celebrate our second anniversary and official opening of our 350sq m duty free shop with lots of celebrations in-store,” said Salud Holding CEO Maurice van Vliet in a social media post.
“We never had the chance the celebrate our official opening due to COVID, hence we are doing it a bit later and still going strong. Good to see tourists coming back, sales figures increasing and finally we are able to give the best customer experience again.”
Headquartered in Amersfoort, The Netherlands, Salud Duty Free is a retailer and distributor of travel retail and duty free products in Europe, the US and Asia, focusing on spirits, wines, Champagnes, confectionery, fragrances, tobacco and fine foods.