SWITZERLAND. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and leading airport retailer The Nuance Group last night officially inaugurated Switzerland’s first “The Olympic Store”, located at Geneva airport (pictured).
The opening was conducted in the presence of IOC president Jacques Rogge and a number of well-known Swiss athletes. The concept of The Olympic Store combines shopping with entertainment and allows travellers and visitors to Geneva airport to take part in the Olympic experience. During the opening ceremony, it was also announced that The Nuance Group will in due course work with the IOC to manage the shop of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.
The IOC and Nuance have been developing a strong partnership since 1997 when they opened the first The Olympic Store in Sydney, host city of the 2000 Olympic Games. Since then, the concept has been successfully implemented in Athens, where the Olympic Games will be celebrated in August next year, and now in Geneva.
The new Olympic Store is located in the passenger hall of Geneva airport and is accessible for both travellers and visitors. Spread across 65sq m (699sq ft), the store proposes T-shirts, pins, postcards and posters, books and videos, everything related to the Olympic Games in general and “Athens 2004”. Products from the shop of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne complement the offer.
“The Olympic Store concept, first developed in Sydney, has made a great contribution to the development of quality licensing programmes,” said IOC president Jacques Rogge during the opening ceremony. “We are proud to open a new store in Switzerland, the home country of the IOC headquarters, and to extend our partnership with The Nuance Group whose expertise will be a great asset for the store of the Olympic Museum.”
“Nuance is the world’s number one airport retailer. They have made a major contribution to the promotion of the Olympic Movement through the development of The Olympic Store concept,” said Michael Payne, IOC marketing director.
Peter Petersen, president & ceo of The Nuance Group, added: “The Olympic Games are one of the few events where people from all over the world get together in a spirit of peace and fairness. We are delighted to be able to design the shopping world of the Olympic Rings in co-operation with the IOC.”
Note:
The International Olympic Committee was founded on 23 June 1894 by the French educator Baron Pierre de Coubertin who was inspired to revive the Olympic Games of Greek antiquity. The IOC is an international non-governmental non-profit organisation and the creator of the Olympic Movement, which includes the Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs), the National Olympic Committees (NOCs), the International Federations (Ifs), the national associations, clubs and, of course, the athletes. The IOC owns all rights to the Olympic symbols, flag, motto, anthem and Olympic Games. Its primary responsibility is to supervise the organisation of the summer and winter Olympic Games.
The Nuance Group was founded in 1992 out of the duty free activities of two Swiss airlines. It is today the world’s largest airport retailer, operating outlets at 63 airports in 19 countries. Nuance has a wide and diverse portfolio of retail shops, including duty free shops as well as over 50 specialist concepts for various product categories and target customer groups. “The Olympic Store”, originally devised for the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, is among the most successful of these concepts. At the moment, five Olympic stores are being operated in Athens, site of the 2004 Olympic Games; two new shops are scheduled to be opened in Turin in the course of the year, leading up to the Olympic Winter Games 2006.
