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Life is good merchandise includes cheerful apparel in soft natural colours and fibres |
US. Travel retailer Hudson Group has opened two lifestyle stores under the fascia ‘Celebrate Life: Life is Good’ at Los Angeles International (LAX) and John Wayne/Orange County airports.
The Life is Good brand is based around a character called Jake, created by brothers Bert and John Jacobs from Boston.
The Jacobs brothers began in 1989, selling T-shirts from a van; and have since grown the business into a multi-million dollar company. Inc magazine recently called Life is Good “a cultural phenomenon”.
The merchandise includes cheerful apparel in soft natural colours and fibres, coordinating sandals, backpacks, mugs, toys and more. All feature the smiling Jake, his dog Rocket and other members of their cartoon entourage.
Hudson opened a 500sq ft store dedicated to the brand last week at LAX. This is part of the company’s investment, worth US$2 million to date, in modernising the airport’s retail concessions programme. A temporary (soon to be permanent) store has been open at John Wayne Airport for about a week.
“The response to both stores has been overwhelming, and we are very pleased with initial sales,” noted Hudson Group Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Joe DiDomizio. “In fact we have experienced great success with this brand in every airport where we have opened stores – Chicago Midway, Atlanta Hartsfield and Nashville. We have several other locations under construction, set to open soon. And airports keep calling us to inquire how they too can add “˜Life is Good’ to their retail line-ups.”
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