Travel Retail Highlights
DFS marks half a century in style in San Francisco
We bring you a selection of memorable recent events, launches and activations from around the world of travel retail, beginning on this page with a celebration of DFS Group’s 50-year anniversary at San Francisco International Airport.
Half a century on from opening a modest store at San Francisco International Airport, DFS is celebrating the anniversary and a positive post-pandemic future with a flurry of boutique reopenings and promotions. It will celebrate the landmark formally on 1 June. In recent months, to prepare for the return of international travellers to locations throughout the US as the pandemic eases, the retailer undertook a comprehensive renovation of its two flagship stores in Terminal A and G concourses. In addition, luxury brand boutiques including Gucci, Burberry, Hermès and the world’s first in-airport Saint Laurent were remodelled to world-class standards. The in-store improvements will be augmented by new digital experiences, such as interactive digital wine tables which allow customers to place a bottle on the table and learn about the brand and vintage displayed on the screen. DFS has also partnered with Inflyter, the duty free shopping app, enabling travellers to browse and buy duty free as soon as a flight booking has been made and alleviating the need to wait until they reach the airport.
Great names of luxury, including Gucci, Hermès and Burberry, are showcased in style
DFS’s renovated stores in the A and G concourses are located just past the newly expanded security checkpoints. The store designs reflect the “laid-back yet cosmopolitan essence of San Francisco”, DFS said, with a façade that features iron-painted International Orange (the colour of the Golden Gate Bridge) and natural wood. The unveiling of the renovated stores marks the latest in a long line of DFS reopenings in 2022 as travel resumes around the world. In recent months the travel retailer has fully or partially reopened its network in Honolulu and Maui, Saipan, Guam, Okinawa, Auckland, Cairns, Sydney, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Macau, Venice and Paris. Since the pandemic began, DFS has added several locations stores to its global footprint. These include the Times DF store at Mission Hills, Haikou, Hainan province in partnership with Shenzhen Duty Free, opened in January 2021. DFS is also set to open two new Gallerias in Oceania: one in Queenstown, New Zealand (Q4 2022) and another in Brisbane, Australia (by Q2 2023). The company is also expanding its network in Macau SAR where it currently operates seven stores.
California is one of the world’s great wine regions and that status is reflected in an eclectic selection of Napa Valley and Sonoma County varietals
Super-premium labels ranging from The Macallan and Louis XIII (above) to Kweichow Moutai (below) abound in the Prestige Spirits zone
(Above and below) DFS has also overseen a comprehensive renovation of its two flagship stores in SFO’s Terminal A and G concourses
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The Moodie Davitt eZine Issue 311 | 30 May 2022
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