Five airport wellness retail trends to watch in 2020

2020 trends: Cristina Alcivar

INTERNATIONAL. Retailers want a share of the wellness market, and the airport environment is no exception.

The airport retail sector has felt the wellness charge, both in terms of what goods and services companies offer, as well as what airports consider.

Here, Cristina Alcivar, Founder of Vane Airport Media, which focuses on health and wellness airport services and amenities, offers a snapshot of the retailers who are shaping the future of retail at airports and how they have incorporated wellness into the design and roll-out of their business.

Athleisure brands

Ever since activewear transitioned from fashion faux-pas to downright trendy, athleisure is the new luxury giving us a run for our money. Many athleisure brands are known for having open, wellness-centric stores and offer a huge emerging opportunity.

You can now shop these athleisure brands at airports: Marika at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall; Lululemon at Hong Kong International, Lolë at Toronto Pearson International, Edmonton International, Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International and Vancouver Airport; and Lorna Jane at Sydney and Brisbane.

These athleisure brands can help retailers create more than just a conventional store but maybe also a next generation space at airports. There seems to be no holding back on fitness-related spending as people increasingly concentrate on health and wellbeing.

According to a recent study by market research firm The NPD Group, athleisure will continue to take market share. In 2020 we will likely see more athleisure companies ready to run into the airport space.

Fashion brand Lolë is making inroads into airports, including this store at Toronto Pearson

Wellness-driven restaurants

Airport restaurants, once associated with fast food offerings and questionable health benefits, today are increasingly offering vegan and vegetarian options, organic produce, and fresh juice bars.

For the first time new categories such as Airport Smoothie or Juice Bar of the Year and Airport Health-Centred or Vegan Offer of the Year were introduced at the 2019 Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Awards. The Moodie Davitt Report-organised event also recognised restaurants that are mindful in their operations and consider their environmental impact.

However, it’s not just about offering a healthy option. A wellness-minded airport restaurant is one that is moving toward local, sustainable, social and environmental wellbeing.

Lagardère Travel Retail’s healthy hybrid concept Natoo combines a salad bar with a flower corner in impressive style

For example, earlier this year Tastes on the Fly opened a second Berkshire Farms Market in Boston Logan International Airport Terminal A.

Tastes on the Fly is working with Berkshire Farm & Table – an agricultural organisation that promotes regional food culture – to curate and source local artisan producers. This supports small producers by showcasing their products to a wider audience.

Tastes on the Fly operates 25 restaurants in four US airports, with an emphasis on bringing local, healthy, and sustainable food to terminals.

The Berkshire Farms Market at Boston Airport includes a bar offering local craft beers and wines, as well as a selection of healthy food

One-stop wellness oasis

Wellness retail partnerships hope to drive more traffic to stores and bolster health and wellness credentials by offering customers a variety of services.

The concept of subdividing stores like Minute Suites to make room for tenants such as BeRelax Spa and Chiroport, offering chiropractic services, is just one example.

However, between the need for permits and the cost of construction, it’s not a quick or cheap fix.

Health and wellness company XpresSpa Group recently opened two spas at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport’s main terminal

There is also a substantial overlap between the target customers for XpresSpa and Roam Fitness launching at San Francisco International Airport in early 2020. As a result, these companies hope to attract new customers and grow their businesses by collaborating.

These partnerships bring a variety of stand-alone brands to an integrated wellness-focused space with gym, spa, chiropractic services, and places to sleep.

However, it’s important to note that these initiatives aren’t paying off yet. Most of these stores have not opened so far — and even when they do, there will only be less than five next year.

In 2020, we will see how these wellness partnership initiatives play out.

New wellness pop-ups

To keep up with the ever-changing needs and desires of consumers, airports are dabbling in new, innovative retail concepts.

Earlier this year, I visited D_partures New Pop-Up Spa at Newark Liberty International Airport.  The D_partures spa concept is a travelling pop-up that stocks products from some of today’s most innovative wellness and beauty brands.

The innovative D_partures pop-up spa at Newark Liberty International

Wellness-related tenants are now starting to occupy prime retail spaces. For example, Sacramento International Airport launched a new travel+well kiosk and The Well store.

There is a shifting focus to how we define travel essentials – from offering small electronics to steel water bottles, for instance, or from genetic toiletries to wellness remedies, and from a bag of chips to healthy takeaway snacks.

I predict that more relatable and inclusive wellness concepts will come forward at airports in 2020.

The attitude of airports is changing dramatically to incorporate wellness trends. In some cases, wellness is now integral to commercial planning.

Given the reality of wellness trends, the airport sector is slowly but progressively transforming itself to align with the expectations of today’s travellers and to combat the adverse effects of airports.

Wellness is not just some fad. It is an evolution of airport retail towards a more lifestyle experience.

Hence, airports will play a key role in providing the foundation that enables retailers and brands to promote their mission of healthier and longer lives.

Wellness is more than avocados

These wellness brands are now at the forefront of creating a standard for retail at airports.

Integrating wellness into commercial planning means more than offering an avocado smoothie and yoga rooms. One of the core value propositions for retailers is to customise their wellness programme to specific attributes in order to deliver lifestyle experiences.

Vane Airport Media Founder Cristina Alcivar discussed future F&B trends at FAB 2019

These experiences offer something vastly different from what most travellers consider traditional airport retail to be, and this difference stems from the particularities of the growing wellness market and airports looking to create more than just a sale.

I look forward to a new year of more wellness at global airports and in particular a wider variety of fruit offerings – I am hoping to see more choice than just apples and bananas in 2020.

About the author

Cristina Alcivar is the founder of Vane Airport Media, a Canadian media company that publishes the latest news about health and wellness airport services and amenities. The publication covers airport healthy food trends, airport spas, and much more. Vane Airport Media publishes an annual Airport Wellness Trends Report that highlights wellness at airports and inflight.

Cristina works closely with The Moodie Davitt Report and sister title FAB eZine, and spoke at the 2019 Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference in Dallas Fort Worth in June.

You can follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CrisAlcivar.

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