why are Airports duty/tax free shops never cheaper than regular shops outside the airport?

Question

why are Airports duty/tax free shops never cheaper than regular shops outside the airport?

In: Economics

Answer 1

In places like Europe, where they have a very substantial VAT on goods sold, the Duty Free shops are often good deals. In the US we don’t have federal sales tax, so the only “duties” you a of are sin taxes like those on alcohol and cigarettes.

I remember going to Europe frequently in the early 2000’s, and the biggest thing in the Heathrow Duty Free was always gigantic box sets of Friends. It would be like Seasons 1-4 on 20 VHS cassette tapes, and would cost like $200. They loved that shit.