UK. Lagardère Travel Retail today (22 May) officially opened the first UK airport outlet for its travel essentials brand Relay at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 2, marking a strategic milestone for the retailer in one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs.
A ceremonial ribbon-cutting held at The Queen’s Terminal celebrated the debut of the first of four planned Relay stores at Heathrow, which together will span 1,360sq m of retail space.
The first outlet, located on the upper level and covering 420sq m, opened today, with the remaining three scheduled to launch progressively over the course of the year.
The store unveiling brought together senior executives from Heathrow Airport and Lagardère Travel Retail, including Heathrow Airport Retail Director Fraser Brown; Heathrow Airport Chief Customer Officer Ross Baker; Lagardère Travel Retail Chairman & CEO Frédéric Chevalier; Lagardère Travel Retail Chief Operating Officer Europe & US Lucio Rossetto; and Lagardère Travel Retail UK & Ireland CEO Peter Newbould.
Representatives from key partners Waitrose and Paydens Pharmacy also attended the event, alongside media guests including The Moodie Davitt Report Managing Editor Ameesha Raizada.
As reported, Lagardère Travel Retail secured its first UK airport Relay contract at Heathrow last year as part of the airport’s plans to reshape its blended essentials retail proposition. The retailer subsequently partnered with Waitrose to strengthen the food-to-go offer within the concept.
The Heathrow opening introduces a blended retail format combining travel essentials, food-to-go, pharmacy services and curated convenience retail under one roof.
The new store incorporates locally inspired gifting and souvenir ranges, including Paddington-themed products, designed to reinforce a sense of place for international travellers.
Chevalier said, “The launch of Relay at Heathrow Airport is a landmark for our company. For decades Heathrow has been at the forefront of innovation in travel retail, and we are honoured to have the opportunity to contribute to the airport’s future commercial development.
“The Relay opening in T2 reflects our ability to combine global expertise with strong local partnerships to create retail concepts that resonate with travellers. Opening here is a vital strategic development for our UK business, and we are grateful to Heathrow for their trust and spirit of partnership.”
Newbould added, “We are extremely proud to officially open our first Relay store at Heathrow Terminal 2.
“This is not only a milestone for Lagardère Travel Retail in the UK, but also a clear demonstration of what we believe makes our company strong: the ability to deliver on our promises through agility, expertise and strong partnerships.
“We are very grateful for the trust placed in us by Heathrow and our brand partners, and we are fully focused on setting new standards for convenience retailing in the UK.”
Heathrow doubles down on blended retail
Brown described the Relay opening as an important evolution of Heathrow’s blended retail strategy, which the airport first trialled in Terminal 2 in 2020.
He said Heathrow’s space constraints and passenger density make the concept especially important.
“We are incredibly tight on space,” he noted. “Blended retail allows passengers to complete their shopping mission efficiently in one place while also helping us use space intelligently.
“Passengers can get food-to-go, pharmacy, gifting and travel essentials together very efficiently. It improves the customer experience and gives passengers more time to browse elsewhere in the terminal.
“Passengers travelling through Terminal 2 – nearly 20 million annually – will get a better experience with Relay. It truly is about making every journey better.
Brown also emphasised that getting the offer right when you blend is important. “You don’t just cram things together for the sake of it; it has to work cohesively.
“Heathrow is the most intense place on the planet for airports. We’re not the biggest, but we’re the most intense.
“The more space-efficient we are with retail, the greater the level of choice we can provide in what is ultimately a constrained environment.”
“What we sell is peace of mind”
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report, Chevalier emphasised that Relay’s purpose is not to compete with specialist luxury or destination retail concepts, but to simplify the passenger journey.
“What we sell is peace of mind and efficiency,” he noted. “Passengers do not want to navigate five different stores before a flight. The blended essentials proposition makes sense when they want to browse a curated assortment quickly.”
He also highlighted the role of technology within the store, including digital screens and self-checkout solutions, while insisting that customer engagement remains central to the concept.
“Speed at checkout is crucial,” he said. “We do not see technology as reducing consumer engagement. On the contrary, we believe it’s part of the service passengers want to have.
“The staff is there to guide customers, advise them and add value where it matters, especially in categories such as beauty and pharmacy.”
Chevalier also emphasised the importance of localisation within the Relay proposition.
“In the travel essentials business, it’s not only chargers and accessories and neck pillows,” he said. “We need to be relevant to the customer, so you need to build an offer that is locally relevant.”
When it comes to KPIs, Chevalier insisted that success at Lagardère Travel Retail is measured not only through sales metrics but also through passenger response and service perception.
Rethinking the convenience model
A key differentiator for the Heathrow concept is the inclusion of Paydens Pharmacy, marking a significant transformation for the Relay model.
Lagardère Travel Retail Executive Vice President Fashion Nathalie Simon said adapting the concept for Heathrow required balancing Relay’s international identity with local market expectations.
“To integrate a pharmacy into the Relay brand was something new,” she explained. “That is why we decided to use green within the design. Relay’s DNA is red, so internally this was a big discussion.”
She said it took almost ten months to build the vision for Heathrow.
“We are present in 30 countries,” she said. “So the question was not simply ‘Are we French?’ but how to adapt the concept without losing its identity. We have four dimensions in a nutshell on adaptation: design, services, offer and CSR.”
Santonja also highlighted the introduction of the Relay mascot, Hay, developed to soften the transactional nature of convenience retail and create a stronger emotional connection with passengers.
“We wanted to keep a sympathetic mood within this very transactional business,” she noted.
Paydens Pharmacy Managing Director Alexander Pay said the Heathrow opening marks the pharmacy group’s airport debut.
“We have not been in travel retail before, so this partnership has been a steep but exciting learning curve,” he said. “It’s a completely different trading environment from domestic markets.”
Pay highlighted the breadth of pharmacy services available within the store, including travel health-related products, pharmacist consultations and prescription support. A consultation or conversation with the pharmacist is free, while services such as flu jabs are chargeable.
“There is a pharmacist on site throughout the day until 10pm,” he said. “The consultation room is a full-size professional space, not just an add-on, for both passengers and airport staff.”
He added that the concept has been designed specifically around traveller needs, including products such as travel sickness treatments, melatonin and other journey-related healthcare items.
The foundation for growth
Newbould highlighted the importance of partnerships within the Relay concept: “Our focus is on creating the optimum value chain. Everyone brings the best of themselves to the proposition: Heathrow, Waitrose, Paydens and our own teams.”
He described Waitrose as delivering “an unquestionable food-to-go proposition” while Paydens brings decades of pharmacy expertise.
“You could build a pharmacy operation from scratch,” he said, “or you can partner with people who have been doing it for over 50 years.”
Newbould also noted that the Heathrow store’s dark green fascia was specifically developed for Terminal 2 in collaboration with the airport.
“Globally, Relay is traditionally red,” he said. “But in the UK, we will do what is appropriate for the airport, its design language and customer proposition.” He added that the green palette also reflects the pharmacy integration and the Waitrose partnership.
In conversation with The Moodie Davitt Report, Newbould indicated that Lagardère Travel Retail sees wider potential for the Relay concept in the UK.
“We are absolutely interested in exploring opportunities to grow in the UK. There are tender processes and opportunities that come up, but we are not in a mad rush for growth.
“We will grow where we believe there are opportunities for us to do so well, where we can genuinely offer something different for customers and airports.” ✈
View this post on Instagram
