Store renovation paves way for growth at Importations Guay

CANADA. A store investment that added around +25% more space this year has laid the platform for growth at leading Canadian land border retailer Importations Guay Limitée (IGL) Duty Free. That’s according to Vice President Justin Guay, speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report at the Frontier Duty Free Association convention in Toronto. The IGL store has around 15,000sq ft of retail space today.

“We completed the renovation and we benefited from it during the summer period,” Guay said. “We’re now working on rebranding our coffee shop.”

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Beauty was among the beneficiaries of the expanded space at the new-look IGL store

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P&C was a major focus of the latest upgrade. New brands include La Mer, Bobbi Brown, YSL, Guerlain, cosmetics brand Dr. Fuchs, plus an upgrade to Smashbox, among other changes.

Beauty is a key category among Chinese travellers crossing the border in particular. That business is led by tour groups but with a growing number of FITs. “We are working hard on campaigns that target Chinese travellers and we’ll talk more about those in coming months. You need to think differently about how to treat these travellers,” noted Guay.

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The strong US Dollar has encouraged sales among Americans travelling north of the border

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Scotch and red wine are key categories in liquor; tobacco sales overall are down though cigars have held up well.

Guay said: “We are doing well with high-end Scotch. We have just sold a bottle of The Balvenie 50 and are stocking a bottle of Glenfiddich 50yo. We could sell more of these kinds of luxury Scotches if we can get the allocation.”

Around 65% of IGL’s sales are to Canadians traditionally though US travellers are now spending more due to the high value of the US Dollar compared to the Canadian currency.

“Currency is the major driver in either direction,” said Guay. “In terms of people travelling oil prices indirectly affect travel across the border but currency is the major influence on spend.”

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High-end spirits have strong potential at IGL, says the company

 

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