LITHUANIA. Travel Retail Vilnius, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gebr Heinemann, yesterday officially opened its upgraded main store at Vilnius International Airport following a major investment. As reported earlier this year, the company extended its duty free contract for a further six years following a tender.
In addition to the conversion of the main shop into a walk-through, the remaining Heinemann outlets at Vilnius International will also be converted and expanded. A new shop in the non-Schengen area opened in July. Four more are under construction in the Schengen area. Travel Retail Vilnius previously ran ten shops across 1,060sq m at the Lithuanian gateway. When upgrades are completed in March 2019, there will be six covering 1,500sq m of space.
“Vilnius International Airport is an extremely committed and professional partner with a very long-term focus. For this reason, we are a great match for each other and have been working for ten years now on continuously designing a tailor-made shopping experience. The new shops signal our joint further development and are a great confirmation of our long-term and fair partnership,” said Gebr Heinemann Sales Director Eastern Europe & Central Asia Bernard Schlafstein.
The heart of the redevelopment is the new 850sq m walk-through store. Travel Retail Vilnius has expanded the fashion & accessories offer, created a new children’s corner featuring an expanded range of toys, plus a new sunglasses area. New brands include Tumi, Furla, Calvin Klein, Wolford and Love Moschino. Digitalisation is also enhanced, with a planned in-store selfie point among the features.
There is a strong focus on popular local brands in four of Heinemann’s Duty Free and Travel Value shops. Alongside traditional souvenirs, Lithuanian accessories, toys, designer art works and specialities from fine food and liquor are popular with travellers, noted the retailer. Among the highlights are items from Lithuania’s largest spirits producer Stumbras, renowned wine producer Gintaras Sinas and Naive’s handmade chocolate.
The presentation of local brands plays an important role for the airport and was a key requirement for the contract extension, noted Heinemann. In the new walkthrough shop alone, around 120sq m of space is dedicated exclusively to Lithuanian products.
Lithuanian Airports Executive Director Laura Joffe said: “We can be proud that we have a lot of Lithuanian artists whose creativity, various art and gastronomic works make Lithuania famous. We have been working closely with our partners from Gebr Heinemann in developing the vision of the new store so that Lithuanian creators would be seen. We appreciate this long-standing partnership, based on mutual understanding, which has been successfully elaborated for more than ten years and continues to grow.”
She added: “The store reflects global trends and has been implemented as part of the reconstruction of the commercial areas. The rapid growth of airport passenger flows obliges us to improve the capacity of our terminal. By increasing our commercial area we can offer our passengers even more convenient and faster services. Now we are heading towards the further modernisation of Vilnius Airport.”
Gebr Heinemann Co-Owner Gunnar Heinemann noted that Lithuania “is a strategically important market because, like all Baltic states, it traditionally forms the bridge between Western and Eastern Europe”. He said: “Lithuanians have also been very keen to travel since joining the EU in 2004. That is the reason why this country is an important part of our growth strategy. Over the past decade, we have invested heavily in the Lithuanian market, consolidating our position in the region. We are very satisfied with the results and will further strengthen our commitment here.”
Lithuanians account for around 50-60% of passengers at Vilnius International Airport. Other key customer groups include Germans, Finns and British.
