NETHERLANDS. Tony’s Chocolonely has opened its first stand-alone travel retail store in partnership with Schiphol Airport Retail (SAR), the joint venture between Gebr Heinemann and Royal Schiphol Group. The 50sq m outlet is located in Lounge 3 at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
The chocolate maker, whose self-declared mission is “to make all chocolate 100% slave free”, offers chocolate bars of many sizes and flavours, gift articles and merchandise such as t-shirts and tote bags in the store. The range includes travel retail exclusive items such as a 320gm Tiny Tony’s Pouch Pack and the newly launched 240gm bars in flavours such as milk, dark, almond sea salt, milk caramel sea salt, hazelnut and nougat.
“With its colourful designs and extraordinary flavours, Tony’s Chocolonely is a big attraction. The eye-catching store adds great value and fun to the travellers’ overall shopping experience at the airport,” said SAR Managing Director Simon Asmus.
The store features a large LED screen and digital displays to draw passengers into the shop. Backing its commitment to using environmentally friendly resources, the new channel exclusive 240gm bar features paper wrapping rather than plastic. Its eco-friendly push also features in the shop-build materials, which have a reduced environmental impact, produce less waste and pollution, and consume less energy. These materials include bamboo for the furniture, cork for the wall covering, and fully re-used lighting and luminaires.
“Travel retail is one of the highest quality platforms for our brand to strengthen our image and provide visibility among international and conscious consumers. The partnership with SAR is an opportunity for Tony’s to grow the category together and build a platform where we can tell our story, win even more fans and therefore change the industry together.
“There is a clear shared goal to achieve commercial success for both partners and at the same time take the social and ecological impact of the business into account,” said Ivan van Kooten, Export & Duty-Free Retail Manager at Tony’s Chocolonely.
Pre-Covid-19 around 70 million passengers used Amsterdam Airport Schiphol each year. In the first quarter of 2021, passenger numbers fell to around 15% of 2019 levels. SAR said it expects that volumes will reach around 30% of 2019 levels through the Summer and 65% by the end of the year.
“We can see that the few passengers who are flying are happy that our shops are open. We are even recording rising sales per passenger and feel confident that our business will experience a swift recovery once passenger numbers increase again,” said Asmus.
