USA. International Shoppes has been awarded the seven-year duty free contract at Newark International Airport Terminal B by master developer Westfield, The Moodie Davitt Report can reveal.
With minority partner Shekinah Group LLC, the company will take over around 8,000sq ft of space covering six stores from Spring 2018. It will redevelop all of the units in phases over the subsequent 18 months.
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report today, International Shoppes directors Scott Halpern and Matthew Greenbaum said the contract gain was a major step forward for the New York-headquartered duty free specialist.
Greenbaum said: “It’s a strategically important location for us. It’s close to our headquarters and we can take over quite quickly and efficiently to ensure a smooth transition.”
Halpern said: “It’s in our wheelhouse regionally. It’s a wonderful terminal with some great airlines and we understand the consumer base very well. We partner with many of the same carriers at JFK.”
Terminal B houses most of the foreign airlines that serve Newark, including Air China, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, SAS, Virgin, British Airways, Aer Lingus, Emirates, El Al, Ethiopian Airlines and others.
Greenbaum noted: “It’s a core category duty free contract but there will be spaces for stand-alone beauty brands and we’ll also have some shop-in-shop concepts.
“We can really maximise revenues with the designs we have proposed for these spaces and impress the travellers coming through this location. Each location will be fully redesigned and rebuilt, using the same designer which helped us rebuild our JFK T1 beauty operation.”
EJE Travel Retail is the current duty free retailer at Newark Terminal B.
As reported, Westfield launched tenders for 29 commercial units at Terminal B last December. The process covered more than 33,000sq ft of space with opportunities in seven categories: duty free, ATMs, currency exchange, food & beverage, health & wellness, speciality retail and travel essentials (news & gifts).
In other news, International Shoppes recently opened its largest airport store, a new 7,200sq ft beauty outlet at JFK Terminal 1 (pictured above and below).
“This is a huge story for us,” said Halpern. “We have all 7,200sq ft exclusively dedicated to beauty. The old space was around 3,000sq ft in all so we have more than doubled that. It’s a tremendous opportunity to bring something new to the market.
“The brands want to showcase themselves here in New York the same way as they do worldwide. We needed to give them the space to do that, in 200-300sq ft spaces for the major brand houses. We have also introduced new brands that develop the offer.”
Jo Malone is being added for the first time, while MAC and Kiehl’s have also been allocated significant new space. In a nod to the demands of Asian consumers at T1, SK-II has been introduced.
“SK-II has done very well in the first two weeks,” said Halpern, “not just with Asian passengers but other nationalities too. It’s a brand that has had explosive growth and it’s the kind of brand we didn’t have the space to offer before. Other brands are benefiting too, including already strong performers such as La Mer and La Prairie.” Space for YSL, Tom Ford and Giorgio Armani fragrances has also been extended, he noted.
Halpern said: “This is not only top in class in the US, it can rival any beauty space in the world.”
*Watch out for an interview with International Shoppes management, coming soon.
