Airport Concessions Need To Reflect Latest In Retail Trends

The Dec. 19 issue (subscribers only) of Aviation Daily/Airports includes a story about how it's important that airports keep up on retail trends and make sure that their concessions are up to date; I spoke to Ann Ferraguto, co-founder and principal at AirProjects Inc., a retail development consultancy based in Alexandria, Va., and my go-to person when I write about concession/vendor development issue stories.

Ann was the moderator of a panel at the ACI-NA concessions conference in Seattle last month. Copies of all the presentations are available here and Ann's presentation is here .  As someone who spends way too much time in airports, I was intrigued by Ann's presentation and somewhat dismayed that I was able to identify so many of the retail outlets by sight.

“In the past, airports tended to have generic stores that sold sundries and news and gifts. There wasn’t as much attention paid to window displays,” said Ferraguto.  “Shops and food service were a hodge-podge that weren’t very professional." This is represented in the slide "The Past."

In the slide "Bold and Exciting," Ferraguto lauded efforts at Baltimore-Washington and Montreal airports for their efforts in the food court and bar, respectively.  "BWI shows [food areas] with brighter, more colorful and cleaner lines.  Montreal's bar is very contemporary, nice lighting, good displays and video screens for entertainment," she said.

The "Eye-catching Strorefront" slide shows the Brooks Brothers store at Washington National Airport, which was singled out by Ferraguto for its design.  "This is particularly significant, because when National was originally done, its architects put stringent standards on storefronts, and as a result, it was difficult to see or read signage at front of stores," she explained.  "But a few years back, the airport redid its design criteria, allowing vendors to become bigger, bolder and eye catching.  You can identify stores from a great distance."

Pappadeaux’s restaurant at Houston Intercontinental was cited by Ferraguto in her slides for using distinctive signage. "Pappadeaux’s is terrific because that unit is on the second floor. If they didn’t have this type of distinctive signage, a lot of people would never find the restaurant," she said.

The "Sense of Place" slide is a great shot of the food court at Orlando International Airport.  "This is landside, which is significant to put a major location there," said Ferraguto. "It acts as a draw, a circuit of retail. You see a large aquarium and light cutouts that gives the area an ocean feel.  It's very well done and brings out Orlando's theme of fun."

In the "Attention to Detail" slide, Ferraguto noted that there wasn't a lot of this from airports in the past.  "But the bar has been raised higher and higher in terms of the look of airport stores.  They are much more mall-like," she noted.  "The top right slide is part of Radio Rose, a contemporary women's clothing store at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.  It includes Fly Babies, a store-within-a-store.  It's well done, colorful and eye catching, with an attention to detail for display and the store's customers."

The bottom slide is the duty-free store at Vancouver International Airport, said Ferraguto.  "The store is professionally designed.  You can see a clear path into the store and see the product lines,"  she said.  "When I show this photo, people see a mall store, not an airport shop."

The last slide -- "Layout and Design Criteria" -- shows two bad examples, said Ferraguto.  "The bottom right slide of Auntie Anne's shows the original criteria for Washington National.  Tenants were forced to make signs small enough to spread between the panels," she said.  "You can see dramatic diff between Auntie Anne's and Brooks Brothers.  The top left is Newark Terminal A, which was redesigned not long ago.  It has a circuitous route where one concession blocks another and you can’t see what your options are.  It looked interesting on paper, but in reality, it takes way from the environment."

Comments

[fasterflier]

Someone should clue your readers on the airports that rip you off on food like Las Vegas. It is criminal what Burger King and others charge.

[Benet Wilson]

Dear Faster: many airports -- including Washington Dulles and Pittsburgh International -- have been moving to pricing that compares with downtown areas. They are aware that it just isn't good business to make passengers pay high prices just because they're trapped at the airport.