Travel retail landmarks

2004-2008

A growing appetite for F&B

If the typical pre-1990s airport retail experience was weak, the F&B was usually even poorer. At the time, the hungry traveller could at least rely on the French – where landside quality restaurants were the rule, not the exception. From generic cafeteria-style formats, the 1990s saw a shift towards fast-food outlets and then a gradual transformation in F&B experiences as this element became increasingly prominent, both in the traveller’s demands and the commercial opportunities.

F&B inspired a range of strategies. In the US, the trend was for localisation with an emphasis on finding the best local restaurants to enter the airport. In the UK, the emphasis was on the appeal of celebrity chefs, as epitomised by Heathrow T5’s opening in 2008 of Gordon Ramsey’s Plane Food brand, followed by Heston Blumenthal in T2 and Jamie Oliver at Gatwick.

F&B has since become a huge factor in an airport’s ambitions to transmit a distinctive and authentic Sense of Place through the creation of a differentiated experience for the traveller. This also incorporates a major shift in the design of F&B locations; just as the menu needs to be creative and exciting so too must the design of the space.

The post-1990 emphasis on retail revenue often left F&B as the poor cousin, but it has since become the star of the airport show. With continuing reductions in onboard F&B options for many passengers, airport F&B will continue to strengthen both as a driving element in the passenger experience and in its challenge to retail for space in the terminal footprint.

2009-2013

The rise of luxury

BAA’s commercial revolution took the retail experience to a new standard in the 1990s through concentrating on the introduction of off-airport brands, and the industry experienced new momentum with the rise of luxury.

Every region, country and city has different passenger dynamics. European luxury brands have a worldwide appeal, but for some countries they have become a religion. The Japanese arrived first, and when their economy began to stagnate others took over; South Korea, Russia and the most powerful of all, China. It is therefore not surprising that it was in Asia that icon stores were conceived. Louis Vuitton opened a major store in Hong Kong International Airport East Hall and in 2013, both Rolex and Chanel opened their two-level icon stores in West Hall.

For terminals with the right mix of brand-conscious shoppers, icon stores are a necessity. Are they a shop? Are they an advertisement? Simply, they are both. Singapore followed and China has been at the forefront of the trend more recently, with the brands in the domestic terminal at Beijing Daxing a great example. Europe has played its part with Chanel and Louis Vuitton in T5 at Heathrow and now at Paris Charles de Gaulle.