POLAND. Lagardère Travel Retail has opened a shopping and food service area at Warsaw Modlin Airport, with the company’s portfolio now including an Aelia Duty Free store, a Relay shop, a 1 Minute Smacznego! store and two redesigned So Coffee cafes.
The retailer’s flagship Aelia Duty Free shop now covers a surface of about 400sq m, the Polish airport company said in a statement.
“The news and gifts Relay one-stop-shop also has been made bigger so that it may cater to the needs of more travellers at a time,” the company said.
Lagardère Travel Retail opened the two So Coffee cafes in winter 2022. Their new design is dominated by shades of green and features natural materials.
Lagardère Travel Retail Poland CEO Travel Essentials Dariusz Sienkiewicz told The Moodie Davitt Report that the company has cooperated with Warsaw-Modlin since 2017.
Sienkiewicz said: “Last February, after the opening of the overhauled part of the airport, we had the pleasure to launch three new outlets from our portfolio. Our new foodvenience format, 1Minute Smacznego!, has been made available to passengers along with a So Coffee cafe with a total surface of more than 390sq m and another So Coffee cafe in the non-Schengen zone of the airport, fitted with a surface of almost 34sq m.
“At the ground floor of the terminal, in the restricted area behind the security check, we carried out an almost twofold expansion of our Aelia Duty Free store. We also expanded our Relay store with a news and gifts offer.”
The company’s food service outlets and stores are located on the terminal’s ground floor and at a mezzanine level. In addition to this, Lagardère Travel Retail also operates the Best Fly Bar.
Airport Commercial & Marketing Director Marek Rymkiewicz told The Moodie Davitt Report last year that as part of the project Warsaw Modlin Airport made a decision to adapt the terminal’s mezzanine level which was previously not accessible to its passengers.
The latest expansion marks another investment aimed at increasing Warsaw Modlin’s commercial capacity and allure. In 2016, the airport unveiled plans to raise its commercial zone by about +50%, or by about 500sq m as part of a PLN30 million (€6.7 million) upgrading project.
Set up in 2012 with the aim to complement Warsaw Chopin Airport as a hub for low-cost airlines such as Ryanair which uses the airport, Warsaw Modlin is located some 36 km north-west of the centre of Poland’s capital Warsaw.
The airport is jointly owned by a number of public entities. The authorities of the central Mazovia region hold the largest (37.2%) stake in the business, followed by the country’s Military Property Agency with 31.05%, the state-run Polish Airports State Enterprise (PPL) with 27.41%, and the municipality of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki (4.34%).
Lagardère Travel Retail’s assets in the Polish market include about 900 outlets operated under some 40 brands across travel essentials, duty free and fashion, and foodservice. ✈
