USA. Dufry company Hudson Group and partners* have captured a key concessions package at New York LaGuardia Airport Terminal B that covers duty free, speciality retail and travel essentials.
As part of the new contract win, Hudson Group will open a “first of its kind” FAO Schwarz travel destination store, featuring signature FAO Schwarz toys and games, after striking a partnership earlier this year. The company will also open LaGuardia Dufry Duty Free across duty free and duty paid categories; travel essentials brand Hudson; a branch of New York independent bookseller McNally Jackson and a MAC make-up store.
This new agreement with terminal operator LaGuardia Gateway Partners covers spaces in the US$5.1 billion redesigned Terminal B, which is the biggest infrastructure project in US aviation today.
“Hudson’s iconic brand coupled with its new and exciting concepts makes the company an ideal partner for this new contract,” said LaGuardia Gateway Partners Chief Commercial Officer Ed Baklor. “Hudson Group has been delivering unique concepts that cater to the immediate needs and wants of travellers at LaGuardia for over 30 years and we are excited to extend and expand the company’s contract at Terminal B.”
“Hudson Group has grown and evolved since we opened our first Hudson News at LaGuardia (LGA) Airport in 1987,” said Hudson Group President and CEO Joseph DiDomizio. “We are proud of our ‘Big Apple’ roots and we are thrilled to grow our longstanding partnership with such an amazing partner. The new contract highlights how diligently we work to ensure that airport concessions are evolving to meet the growing needs of travellers. This is especially true for LaGuardia, as our competitive bid will bring the nation’s oldest and most iconic toy brand, FAO Schwarz, into airports for the first time at the city’s oldest commercial airport.”
“We are thrilled to be working with Hudson Group to bring the brand’s wonder and innovation to the airport community,” said David Conn, CEO of ThreeSixty Group, the company that owns FAO. “The experiences that the brand can bring to those travelling through LaGuardia’s Terminal B will be unlike any other, and Hudson Group is the perfect partner to execute that theatre and excitement.”
The new Terminal B will open in phases – all starting later this year with the first gates in the terminal’s eastern concourse.
*HG LGA Retailers JV is a partnership between Hudson Group and the following certified Airport Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program (ACDBE) companies: Branded Works, Inc., Byrd Retail Group, LLC and Kellee Communications Group, Inc.
