The Design Solution
Travel retail landmarks
40 years of innovation – eight significant events that have reshaped the industry.
In association with
In this guest editorial, The Design Solution takes a journey across the milestone events and trends that have shaped the airport retail experience and will influence its future – from the commercial focus adopted by airports to the design of the passenger experience.
From the late 1940s to the early 1980s
The founding father of the global duty free industry, Brendan O’Regan launched his retail operations in 1951 from a timber hut positioned outside the terminal at Shannon Airport. Almost 75 years later, the industry’s latest major opening at Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport is a spectacular 50m-high sculptural building with over 26,000sq m of retail space. Despite the astonishing contrast in these two travel retail locations, each distinctive in its own way, they actually share a core challenge; how can commercial operations be most effectively blended into the passenger’s airport experience?
Across 40 years of airport experience, The Design Solution (TDS) has met that challenge at over 150 terminals across the world, encountering a series of pivotal phases of development in the airport experience that have not only shaped the industry’s past but will continue to influence its path in the decade ahead.
Dr Brendan O'Regan
London Heathrow Airport, UK
Shannon Airport Airport, Ireland (© Shannon Airport)
London Heathrow Airport, UK (© Heathrow Airport)
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The Moodie Davitt eZine Issue 332 | 8 March 2024
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 14 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd). © All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please e-mail kristyn@moodiedavittreport.com