More airport shops offer fair prices on common items
— -- I'm all for airports piling on amenities for travelers. Massage bars, wine bars, museum-quality artwork, and shops selling everything from fine jewelry and gourmet chocolate to suits, fancy scarves and indestructible suitcases. You won't have too much of a problem finding these services and products at most North American airports these days. But it's a different story if you go looking for some aspirin, a birthday card, Scotch tape, deodorant, or a handful of paper clips. For some reason, these everyday conveniences are still sometimes hard to find at many airports. And if you do track them down, you'll often find yourself shocked at the "gourmet" prices stores ask for these items. So, like me, you may find yourself blocking the aisle in a busy airport newsstand trying to decide what's worse: putting up with that headache a little longer or paying close to five dollars for a two-tablet blister-pack of Tylenol.
No need to pay through the nose
In these tough economic times, most every traveler is on a tight budget and more inclined than ever to put up with the pain rather than use lunch money for overpriced airport aspirin. But when he found himself at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport earlier this month with a splitting headache, Bob Gaul from Orange County, Calif., didn't have to make that choice.
Gaul, who travels more than 300,000 miles a year for his job in the hotel industry, was on his way from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to Las Vegas. He travels with his own aspirin, but unfortunately it was in his checked baggage and he still had two more flights to take that day. But having been through this airport many times before, Gaul knew that in the lobby of Terminal 4 he'd find a wide choice of headache remedies at Drugs & More, a large (for an airport) store selling over-the-counter medicines and other everyday items in regular sizes, and at regular prices. "This is an unlikely store to have in an airport," says Gaul, "Usually what you get at the airport are 4 [tablets] for $3. But I'm buying a regular sized bottle [of Advil Migraine] for $5.99. The price is probably the same as you'd find in Safeway ... It's very convenient."
