BULGARIA. Dufry has been awarded an eight-and-a-half-year concession contract at Sofia International Airport to operate 13 shops, eleven duty free and two duty paid, following an open tender. The business was formerly operated in-house.
Dufry will take over the operation of the 1,433sq m of existing commercial space as of June 2022. It will develop two new stores, a 1,800sq m walk-through shop and a 170sq m arrivals shop, both in Terminal 2.
This new concession consolidates Dufy’s footprint in Bulgaria by introducing an additional location on top of existing operations at Burgas and Varna airports.
Sofia Airport is Bulgaria’s largest international airport and served over 7 million passengers in pre-pandemic 2019. The airport has already begun a major redevelopment which includes the construction of a new terminal designed to deliver a five-star passenger service.
Dufry said that it will “significantly improve” the commercial offer as part of this extensive redevelopment, “setting a new benchmark for travel retail in Eastern European airports”.
The T2 retail space will be transformed with the construction of the main walk-through duty free store and the duty paid arrivals shop.
Core product categories will be offered across all shops while the walk-through store will provide an extensive product mix including internationally renowned brands, exclusive products and new launches.
Dufry also pledged a strong focus on local products, which will be showcased within the store in a ‘Taste of Sofia’ area to convey a strong Sense of Place.
Dufry Chief Operating Officer, Mediterranean, Eastern Europe & Middle East Alberto Iglesias said, “Dufry is proud to have been awarded this important new concession in Bulgaria. We would like to thank Sofia Airport for the trust they have shown in us.
“As the leading global travel retailer, we will use our extensive knowledge and expertise to take the airport’s shopping experience to an entirely new level for over seven million passengers who visit Sofia Airport each year. A key element of the new walk-through store will be the integration of digital technologies.”
Sofia Airport Chief Executive Officer Jesús Caballero added: “With the appointment of the professional duty free and travel retail operator Dufry for the airport shops, we are a step closer to delivering the envisaged excellence to our passengers.
“Our travellers deserve a better commercial experience on the airport premises and Dufry is going to deliver it. Our expectations of the global travel retailer are in line with Sofia Airport’s major transformation aimed to rank the airport among its European peers.”
He added, “We trusted Dufry because they are a global company that will deliver high-quality service and change the face of the commercial areas. This change is part of the major transformation of Sofia Airport that we are already implementing.”
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