Brazil is not only about the border though. At airports the company runs duty free, duty paid, news & gifts and food & beverage.

Falic says: “We want to be involved in all channels in Brazil. Our 2,000sq m duty paid store at São Paulo Congonhas is a good example of how it can work. Brands are using it as a department store. The fragrance houses use it as launchpad for brands; they have traffic, great space and a showcase.”

F&B is another big opportunity DFA aims to seize, which explains its tie-up with leading global travel restaurateur SSP in Brazil. As reported last year, their joint venture secured contracts worth around US$80 million over nine years at São Paulo Guarulhos and Rio de Janeiro (RIOgaleão – Tom Jobim International Airport), which welcome 40 million and 16 million passengers a year, respectively.

The brands in the line-up include coffee shop Ritazza, contemporary restaurant Factory Bar & Kitchen, bakery brand Upper Crust, Jamie’s Deli from leading celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, Italian brand Barzetti, Mexican-themed concept Mi Casa Burritos, hot dog brand Monty’s Dogs & Cones, sports bar O’Learys and healthy eating brand Camden Food Co.

Falic says: “It’s important to have an understanding of F&B, the rules, taxation and so on, in any country. We know Brazil well and we know the customer. SSP brings many different concepts. We offered them a presence in this region and we will run the stores. We expect more airports to follow.”

In travel essentials, DFA paved the way for UK news, books and convenience specialist WHSmith to enter South America with a contract for seven stores at RIOgaleão Tom Jobim International last year.

Falic says: “We have invested a lot of money in Brazil and are now in almost all of the main airports in some way. We have duty free, duty paid, news & gifts and F&B. We are now being recommended by the airports, who see that we know what we are doing.”

Progress in Panama

Further north, DFA has established a strong presence at Tocumen Airport in Panama, often called ‘the Hub of the Americas’.

After capturing two of the three ten-year duty free contracts for T1 in 2017, and starting operations last year, DFA occupies the most visible spaces facing travellers as they enter through security check. The company also represents the airport’s major source of commercial income, having guaranteed, according to the airport, around US$1.2 million per month per concession for the contracts.

Falic says: “We have the best spaces here, but we also pay a lot in rent. We gave the airport an advance payment of US$81 million related to duty free alone. We will see this business really fly now. It has taken until now to complete the fit-outs after we started with temporary shops. At the new Terminal 2, where we have over 1,000sq m of space, we will build our presence when it opens later this year. Panama is a very important location. I am based here, and many of our functions are run out of here.”

In the new T2, which will extend capacity at the airport to around 22 million passengers (it handled 15.6 million in 2018), DFA will not only run one of the two duty free concessions, but also news & gifts (exclusively) and several food & beverage outlets.

Falic says: “We will extend our DFA News brand to the new terminal with three stores, larger than those in T1. Everyone needs those travel essentials. We like that business, as it gives us significant volume. Other players might be more established but we can tell potential clients about our sales per square foot, which is strong everywhere we manage this category.”

Tocumen T2 restaurants run by DFA will include a sports bar, a pizza concept and a healthy eating concept. “We are getting much more into food as well as news & gifts. Where we run the duty free, we like to diversify into other categories where possible.”

“The new main shop has space for experiential elements that we cannot do as much in T1,” says Falic. “We can express brands’ identity far better there, and all in one space. It gives us many advantages.”

There is more work planned in the T1 stores too, to encourage travellers to enter, to browse and to buy. One main wall in the liquor store will be opened out to allow for better visibility. Among other projects, a new sunglasses store opened recently (in a category in which DFA has upgraded significantly across its estate), with a watches range to be added, featuring Tag Heuer, Longines and others. Soon a Victoria’s Secret shop-in-shop will be added to space recently taken over at one end of the main P&C store in departures; the brand is exclusive to DFA at the airport.

The major spend at Tocumen comes from Latin Americans (70% of traffic is transit), but the shopper base is becoming more diverse as routes open up to Europe and even to Asia.

Falic says: “We prefer to look at the type of consumer coming through rather than just traffic numbers. We want the consumer who understands the value of duty free. In Panama it’s mainly a Latin business; they buy in volume and they come with lists. We have a lot of US travellers, but they are not really our market as they can buy so cheaply at home and are not that conscious of what duty free means. What is important is that we offer something new on a regular basis; we have a lot of repeat traffic.”

With a new terminal just months away (the opening date is unclear but likely to be in summer), renovated space in T1, fresh fixturing and some new brands, Panama is set to play a central part in determining DFA’s success in Latin America.