SINGAPORE/SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free today opened its first store at Changi Airport, underlining its international ambitions. Lotte is the first Korean travel retailer to open at the Singapore gateway.
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The 80sq m store sells Cheong Kwan Jang (Korean red ginseng) and Donginbi (red ginseng cosmetics). It is Lotte Duty Free’s second overseas store, following the recent opening at Jakarta Airport in Indonesia.
Sehoon Lee of Lotte Duty Free’s Business Development Team told The Moodie Report: “We aim for the shop to be our stepping stone for bigger concessions to follow next year at Changi (liquor & tobacco, perfumes & cosmetics), and also for further overseas expansion.”
STEPPING UP EFFORTS TO SECURE LAX DUTY FEE CONCESSION
As reported, Lotte Duty Free is also vigorously pursuing the duty free concession at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), currently out to tender. Bids closed on 2 April.
Lotte is among an ultra-strong field hoping to wrest the concession away from long-term incumbent DFS. Other contenders are understood to include Aer Rianta International (ARI) in partnership with Lotte’s Korean rival The Shilla Duty Free; DFS; Dufry; Duty Free Americas; The Nuance Group; World Duty Free Group and Travel Retail USA (a venture led by Gebr Heinemann), all of whom attended the original concession day last December hosted by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA).
In common with other bidders, Lotte recently attended a post-closure interview with LAWA, where it emphasised its experience in the duty free industry, its financial capability and its localisation plans.
Lotte has established a memorandum of understanding with Webcore Builders, a LA-based award-winning general contractor specialising in a wide variety of projects from large, ground-up core and shell concepts to smaller tenant improvement work. If Lotte is awarded the LAX contract, it will work with Webcore Builder to build the new shops.
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