W&E; Today provides retailers and manufacturers with education and ideas that provoke innovation in the Western and English markets.
Issue link: http://wetoday.epubxp.com/i/235944
LEFT: Premier Billy Bob's Texas recently opened at Dallas' Love Field Airport, ofering a truly Texas shopping venue, while reinforcing their brand. BELOW: Concho Minick, Billy Bob's president, determined that the opportunity to be in front of nearly 8 million passengers a year was worth the calculated risk of opening an airport concession. D/FW kiosk's location wasn't ideal and the setup proved problematic — all of the merchandise had to come through security in tubs, for example — and the efort was jettisoned. Several airport retailers approached Billy Bob's about partnering on an airport location, but it wasn't until the Hudson Group, the largest duty-paid travel retailer in North America, reached out to Billy Bob's about presenting to the City of Dallas for the business at the new Love Field concourse that it clicked for Minick. "We seemed to connect with them, they seemed to get us, and we joined one of about 20 groups that presented with Hudson," Minick says. "Te Hudson people had some things to say, but the individual pitch was up to us. I was holding my Billy Bob's guitar there, and doing all kinds of stuf [smiling]." FINDING THE FIT. For Billy Bob's, the airport presence is more about selling the brand than selling T-shirts, but Minick is pleased with the results since the store opened in April. He's part of Hudson's bid for retail shops on another Love Field concourse, and says other airport locations might accompany Billy Bob's entertainment expansion into additional cities. Although the market for airport Western specialty stores has its limits, this niche isn't a one-note occurrence. Western-oriented retailers can fnd a lucrative home on the range in the nation's airport terminals, but it's a challenging market and getting access is a complicated process, according to those involved in the work. "You need to be wide awake about the risk-reward nature of an airport location, and be prepared to do business at a fast-paced, high level," says Kathleen Avila, co-founder with husband John of Albuquerque-based Avila Retail Development & Management. "For most people, it is volume that they never dreamed of." Te Avilas have operated retail stores since 1978, growing from a two-person operation to a 23-unit specialty retail entity operating in three states and at four airports, including two Way Out West locations at the Denver International Airport. In the process of nurturing and growing an enterprise founded more than 35 years ago, the Avilas have been immersed full-throttle in the evolution of airport retail. During the past two decades, U.S. airports — hit with airline bankruptcies and mergers that have dragged on their bottom lines — have looked to further develop other on-location revenue streams. One area that has experienced signifcant focus is the concession and retail options for post-9/11, security-contained travelers. Te Airports Council International-North America, which represents the vast majority of governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports, conducted a 2013 survery of 94 airports in the United States and Candada and reports that "airports continue to creatively reinvent their concessions programs to improve the travel experience and explore new revenue streams." Tat customer base is a signifcant retailing market. Airport Revenue News, a monthly publication focused on revenue trends and strategies, reports that in 2011 about 700 million people traveled through 96 major North American airports, spending an average of 90 minutes and $6 billion on concessions before, between and afer fights. More than $1 billion of that total was spent in news and gif stores, and almost another $1 billion found its way to specialty retail, according to the annual ARN Fact Book that serves as a comprehensive resource detailing concession programs in top airports and key concession companies in the airport retail industry. POISED FOR GROWTH. Airport Revenue News projects that about $3 billion worth of new retail and food and beverage opportunities will become available in North American airports during the next fve years. Niche retailing appropriate to the culture and lifestyle of the local destination is becoming an important part of that expansion. "Airports today are looking to connect much more closely with local entrepreneurs in order to make them much more customized to the market," says Dufy Weir, former executive at the Rouse Company and now an independent retail marketing consultant and writer. "Te local municipalities are also saying we want x-percentage of your people to come from this market, or be a minority business person." Te Love Field expansion posed just such parameters. New Jersey-based Hudson Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of international duty-free travel retailer Dufry AG of Basel, Switzerland, operates more than 700 Hudson, Hudson News, Hudson Booksellers, cafés, specialty retail and duty free shops in 70 airports and transportation terminals in the United States and Canada. It sought specifc local favor partners when putting together its bid for the Love Field business. "Te Request for Proposals for the Dallas Love Field concessions program set out very clearly that it was the desire of the Airport Authority to create at Love Field a look and feel that was distinctively Dallas," says Laura Samuels, vice president of corporate communications for the Hudson Group. "Instead of store afer store with national and international brands, Love Field was looking for those news, gif, specialty retail, and food and beverage options with distinct Western favor that would make it clear to travelers that they were in Dallas, and not 'Anytown,' USA." JANUARY 2014 49