Sunglass Hut at Heathrow T5: Part of the growing airport portfolio for the specialist retailer |
INTERNATIONAL. Sunglass Hut opened 25 new travel retail stores in 2015, with more to come this year. The brand now has a global airport footprint of 155 standalone stores and kiosks worldwide.
In 2015 the company opened nine new airport stores in Spain, including Madrid, Barcelona, Ibiza, Tenerife and Gran Canaria, increasing its airport presence on the Iberian Peninsula to 20 stores.
Sunglass Hut also grew its South American airport footprint in Brazil, Mexico and Chile, as well as several openings in airports in North America, Malaysia and Australasia.
Through Luxottica Global Channels, Sunglass Hut said that it applies “a flexible business model” approach to the travel retail channel, with a combination of directly run stores, and those operated in collaboration with travel retailers and local franchise partners.
“Sunglass Hut’s success in the travel retail channel emphasises the power of the brand and the incremental and non-cannibalising potential of standalone sunglass concepts,” said Luxottica Head of Global Channels Francis Gros. “The growing appreciation among retailers and airport authorities for the benefits of multi-formatting gives us confidence in our expansion opportunities for 2016, including a new presence for Sunglass Hut at some of the most high-profile airports in the world.”
In the first quarter of 2016, Sunglass Hut opened stores in Dubai International Airport and Copenhagen Airport Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, among others.
