UK. Stena Line affiliate R&F Travel Retail today opened a duty free shop in a 40-foot container in Holyhead, Wales, a key ferry port for sailings between the UK and Ireland. It plans to open another soon at Fishguard, another port serving ferry traffic further down the Welsh coast.
The Holyhead store will offer duty free shopping to travellers on Irish routes, now that the UK has left the European Union and become a third country. R&F said this means it can offer savings up to -60% off the UK High Street.
R&F Travel Retail Managing Director Jari Virtanen said: “We are very excited to take our next step in becoming a pan-European travel retail player. We are confident that we can offer the best prices on the market due to our purchase volumes and we look forward to welcoming travellers with great deals and fantastic offers.”
R&F Travel Retail has been supplying duty free & travel retail products to shipping companies, embassies and airports for over 40 years. In April it opened its first owned and operated travel retail store at Cologne Bonn Airport. In the ferry business, the company works closely with Stena Line, Finnlines and TT Line, among others.
The company said that the Holyhead container shop “will have a modern and clean expression with commercial flexibility. It will also reflect value for money. The fact that the shop is built in a 40-foot container is not only fun but also practical. The container was already in place and nothing needed to be built except the shop interior. The shop will offer an exciting and surprising shopping experience.”
