GERMANY. Smartseller, a joint venture founded in 2020 between casualfood and Gebr. Heinemann, has struck a 50:50 joint venture with Nürnberg Airport to manage duty free, food service and convenience stores.
The smartseller alliance was formed to offer small and medium-sized regional airports added value by combining travel retail with food & beverage and convenience.
The agreement between smartseller and the airport will come into force on 1 January 2024, subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.
The commercial area at Nürnberg Albrecht Dürer Airport will be rebranded under the ‘all yours’ concept, with an updated store design across an expanded 1,200sq m of space.
A highlight will be the strong regional connection to the city and the region of Franconia. This will be reflected in the range of food and drink on offer, said the partners.
This will be the fourth ‘all yours’ branded operation by smartseller since the partnership’s creation by Gebr. Heinemann and F&B specialist casualfood. Previous stores have opened at Ljubljana Airport, Slovenia, plus Münster/Osnabrück and Leipzig/Halle in Germany.
The travel retail shops at Nürnberg Airport are currently operated in-house.
Sebastian Schäfer will be Managing Director of the new company, smartseller nürnberg GmbH & Co. He is currently manager of the airport shop operation.
The acting representatives of the company will be Klaus Dotzauer, Commercial Director at Flughafen Nürnberg and Managing Director of the airport subsidiary Flughafen Nürnberg Service, and smartseller Managing Director Karl Niendorf.
Niendorf said: “smartseller stands for long-term and trustful partnerships. The collaboration on this joint venture has been planned for a term of at least ten years. Both parties are very happy with the result.
“It has been demonstrated once again that smartseller is the ideal partner for medium-sized airports because we are prepared to develop an individual solution together at all times. This has been a success as well and together we are going to make the offer even more attractive for travellers.”
Klaus Dotzauer added: “The renovation of the shop and the integrated concept mean that we are succeeding in presenting the range of products for passengers in a more varied and comprehensive way in a space that already exists. Together with smartseller, we are going to continue to improve the shopping and travel experience of our passengers.”
