GERMANY. Gebr. Heinemann has marked 50 year of store operations at Frankfurt Airport. On 14 March 1972, the retailer opened its first duty free shops as Terminal 1 was unveiled at the airport.
The Hamburg-based, family-owned business remains the anchor retail partner at the airport today (through the Frankfurt Airport Retail joint venture), with over 30 shops covering 12,000sq m, and around 640 employees.
Gebr. Heinemann Co-Owner Claus Heinemann said: “We are very proud of the long-standing and trusting cooperation with Frankfurt Airport, it is the basis of our joint success. The airport is one of the first locations where we made the leap from wholesaler to airport retailer.
“It is wonderful to see how the business has developed here in Frankfurt over five decades: from small shops with service counters to walk-through self-service shops to luxury brand boutiques or innovative concepts like our ‘Beauty Store’. Both the airport and our employees here on site in Frankfurt have always offered us outstanding support along the way.”
Gebr. Heinemann and airport operator Fraport founded the joint enterprise Frankfurt Airport Retail (FAR) in 2017. Today it runs all duty free & Travel Value Shops at the airport as well as luxury boutiques and premium brand shops such as Hermès, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent Paris and Boss.
“With the establishment of the joint venture, we have intensified our long-standing business relationship and raised it to a new level,” said Karl-Heinz Dietrich, Head of Retail and Rental Management at Fraport. “This allows us to react optimally to developments in the travel retail market and to offer our customers the optimum brand mix.”
While Gebr. Heinemann launched its own shops five decades ago, its cooperation with Frankfurt Airport began earlier. The first duty free counter at a German airport opened in Frankfurt in 1958, operated by the state and supplied by Gebr. Heinemann.
