UK. World Duty Free and WHSmith have opened refurbished and expanded stores at George Best Belfast City Airport.
As reported, the openings represent the completion of the first phase of an ongoing £15 million (US$21 million) infrastructure investment aimed at enhancing the customer experience.
The new retail units now feature 552sq m of retail space – an overall increase of +30%. The World Duty Free store will offer an enhanced product range, with a selection of Bare Minerals, Elemis and Smashbox items available for the first time at the airport.
“Passengers will notice a huge improvement to the departure lounge,” said Belfast City Airport Commercial Manager Joanne Deighan.
“The new World Duty Free and WHSmith units, which have opened just in time for our passengers flying off on their summer holidays, are bright and spacious with a much greater product offering.
“The walk-through design within World Duty Free allows our passengers to easily see the brands available as they move through the departure lounge and into WHSmith which overlooks the front of the airport.
“Over the summer months we expect to welcome approximately 10,000 passengers through the terminal each day so it’s fantastic to provide these customers with a world-class travel retail experience that will really enhance the customer journey.”
Deighan said upgrade works to the security area would be completed later this summer, allowing departing passengers to be processed more efficiently. An improved food & beverage offering will be unveiled towards the end of the year.
World Duty Free’s Ciara Hamill commented: “Seeing this project coming to life has been amazing and we’re excited to show off our fabulous new store to customers.
“The new walk-through layout will revolutionise the World Duty Free experience for our passengers. The additional space makes for a much more relaxing, personal experience.
“Not only have we enhanced our fragrance and beauty offering, but we also have an increased range of sunglasses with brands such as Michael Kors, Prada and Ralph Lauren, as well as a luxury section featuring items from Pandora and Swarovski.
“It’s great to have the new store open in time for the summer holidays and we look forward to welcoming our passengers to show them around the shop.”
WHSmith’s Ryan O’Hara said: “The new WHSmith store at Belfast City Airport now offers a greater selection of food & beverage items, travel accessories, toiletries, magazines and books.
“We now have much more space dedicated to meal deal items allowing passengers to quickly choose from a wide choice of refreshments. We have also increased our range of mini toiletry items under 100ml which are perfect for travelling, and for the first time have introduced beauty items from Maybelline and Rimmel.
“The new store combines the previous two airside stores within the one unit making it a more seamless experience for passengers.”
See below for more images of the refurbished stores.
