UK. Berry Bros & Rudd is to close its four stores at London Heathrow Airport over the next three months, bringing an end to 12 years of trading.
The UK fine wine retailer attributed the decision to a combination of high rents and the low margins pertaining to its category.
Retail Director Robin McMillan said: “Airports are wonderful environments for luxury goods, but the current combination of some of the world’s most competitive retail floor space with the relatively low margins applicable to fine wines ultimately made it impossible for us to compete for space. However, the unique audience Heathrow provides is ideally suited to our offer and, should circumstances alter, a return to that environment is not out of the question in the longer term.
“We are obviously disappointed to have to close our operations at Heathrow but feel we are now able to provide our international clients with the finest range of wines and highest levels of service through other more recently developed channels – in particular our award-winning website at www.bbr.com and our international outlets in Hong Kong, Ireland and Japan.”
BAA Global Retail and World Duty Free Managing Director Mark Riches commented: “Berry Bros & Rudd have always been a supportive and committed partner and has shared in our spirit of using innovative ideas to excite the customer.
“However we obviously respect this decision and wish them every success in further developing their domestic and international business. I very much hope we can work with them again in the future – this may be the close of the current chapter but (I sincerely hope) it’s not the end of the story.
“We will now take the fine wine offer into our own core business and seek to grow it as a category on the back of the success of our high-performing liquor business. In doing that I have no doubt that we will take on board the valuable lessons that evolved from Berry Bros’ pioneering approach.”
HAVE YOUR SAY: Was Berry Bros right to vacate its Heathrow business? Does wine with its lower margin structure have a viable future in duty free? Are there lessons here in terms of how airport rent structures can ultimately damage the consumer offer? Click here and go to ‘General Subjects’ to offer your opinion on The Moodie Report Forum or to respond to the views of others.
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