Aer Rianta International (ARI) has long championed the concept of Sense of Place and has partnered with The Moodie Davit Report for our successful column dedicated to the subject. These articles were first published in The Moodie Davitt e-Zine.
INTERNATIONAL. Dufry is offering an eclectic array of Brazilian products within themed city neighbourhoods at its compelling destination merchandise store at São Paulo International Airport.
Traditional elements of Estonian culture and modern technology combine in Baltona Duty Free’s duty free concession at Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport.
Muscat Duty Free’s stores at Muscat International Airport present locally-inspired features from Omani landscape-inspired store ceilings to spectacular life-size Lego figures.
Sense of Place is a key part of each of these three airport shopping experiences around the world.
Saluting a São Paulo way of life
Travellers will be Thinking São Paulo when they visit one of Dufry’s latest destination merchandise stores.
That’s because the retailer has evoked a strong Sense of Place in its 500sq m store at Terminal 3 of São Paulo International Airport (GRU Airport).
Thinking São Paulo offers a diverse array of Brazilian products from premium local brands across a wide selection of categories, including perfumes & cosmetics, confectionery, spirits and fashion.
Dufry’s aim for the store was to present unique concepts that capture São Paulo’s atmosphere in an environment reflecting the city’s way of life. Popular touristic and local sites are embodied in the offer.
Each brand has its dedicated space and is represented within themed city neighbourhoods. For example, the ‘Oscar Freire’ area offers products from renowned fashion brands such as Farm, Lenny Niemeyer, Cia Maritima, Osklen and Havaianas.
The ‘Ibirapuera’ space offers products for pets products and sports brands, including Zee Dog and Penalty. ‘Avenida Paulista’ presents souvenirs and Natura products. In ‘Vila Madalena’, confectionery items such as Garoto chocolates and local spirits including cachaças Leblon, Mata-Velha and Sagatiba are available.
“In this space, we aim to bring a Sense of Place to international and Brazilian travellers, showing typical local brands in an exclusive retail environment,” said Dufry General Manager for Brazil and Bolivia Gustavo Fagundes.
“Upon leaving the country, they will be able to take part of Brazil with them through the products of the best and famous local brands.”
Local stories and a local spirit of hospitality
Baltona Duty Free’s new duty free concession at Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport celebrates Estonian culture and natural heritage through a shopper journey modelled on a fairy tale walk through a forest.
The main 800sq m duty free store is the centrepiece of a major development programme by airport operator Tallinn Airport. The revamp is intended to express a strong local flavour at the airport that styles itself as ‘the cosiest airport in the world’.
A strong local brand presence includes popular confectionery brand Kalev, Liviko spirits, A. Le Coq beers and Lumene in skincare.
Sense of Place comes to life though the design work of London-based The Design Solution.
“The design of the main free store was envisaged as absolutely integral to the airport’s pledge to be ‘the world’s cosiest airport’,” said The Design Solution Director Nick Taylor.
“We aimed to make it cosy – with a commercial edge. The design uses traditional elements of Estonian culture and has a huge emphasis on local natural materials, particularly in the strong use of local timbers to reflect the fact that around half of Estonia’s land area is covered by forests.
“The store journey is themed as a forest walk, including wonderful semi-private seating areas that provide a break in the walk. These are decorated with themed graphics in a traditional woodcut style that echo classic fairy tales. In a whimsical touch, the walk-through pathway even features subtle decorative signs in the floor that guide shoppers through the store, like breadcrumbs guiding characters through the forest in a fairy tale.”
Taylor added: “The dominance of local wood is physical as well as spiritual, such as in the ‘cut logs’ effect ceiling features and the warm tones used throughout, giving the whole space a natural, cosy warmth and beauty. The wood theme also blends with modern technology through the huge digital screens that have wooden surrounds. The first large screen is a great welcoming encounter and further screens are spread through the store to share promotions and messaging.”
The Design Solution believed it was important for the space to be a part of the fabric of the airport, generating a seamless experience. “To complement the natural, warm finishes, orange tones, and birch plywood surfaces, we engaged local artists to bring another layer of Estonian culture, including graphics on the walls and the ‘secret’ seating areas,” he explained. “These are bordered by wooden slatted enclosures featuring products such as perfume bottles displayed in ‘ice’ blocks.
“I think Tallinn has a particularly striking Sense of Place that provides a very useful lesson for airports of every size across the globe in that the airport’s personality is driven as much by the spirit of the place as by the physical design. Tallinn Airport has clearly worked very hard to deliver a holistic approach that drives exceptional quality across every aspect of the customer journey and they understand that the retail journey has to share that same spirit.
“Our design aims to blend with the genuine warmth and authenticity of the welcome by creating a stress-free, engaging retail adventure that shares local stories and a local spirit of hospitality.”
The key is that Tallinn has a clear identity, unlike some airports. “It talks to its passengers in a single tone of voice, and it’s a voice that makes you feel instantly at ease, un-pressured, and free to explore, engage and relax,” said Taylor. “We’ve had a wonderfully open and shared conversation with Baltona and the airport throughout this project. One of the key differences I see at Tallinn Duty Free is that, across the categories, the major brands don’t overwhelm the design concept.
“There’s a fantastic harmony that blends brand presence with the local stories that we share through the space. Tallinn Airport and Baltona should be congratulated not only for their remarkable spirit of cooperation but for sharing with The Design Solution in ensuring that the local story is fully expressed by the scale and quality of the retail space.
“Rather than the major brands wholly dominating the space – which is the norm at most airports – they’re actually better expressed by being integrated into the local story and, crucially, the local brands stand shoulder to shoulder with them. Hopefully, there is a lesson there for other airports and retailers to learn from.”
Baltona Duty Free CEO Piotr Kazimierski said that the airport “offers a unique expression of what Estonia is all about, including the pride of the people and the country’s natural beauty”.
He said: “If it’s done in the right way, Sense of Place is something that sells very well; it’s something that passengers are looking for, and airports too. At major destination hubs you can see that Sense of Place is perhaps easier, not least in the need to ‘invest to express’, and that’s obviously harder for a small airport to do.
“Of course, you also need the right partners and there are lots of economic details to address, such as capital expenditure and concession terms. But if you can find a way to make it happen then I think the payback can be very strong. I think you must do it because it works; it sells, people like it, they talk about it, word spreads very quickly; and so it grows and you sell more. It’s an investment and we’re now working on the best way to capitalise on that.”
“Thoroughly engaging and visually stimulating”
The sights and scents of Oman have been stunningly recreated in Muscat Duty Free’s new shopping complex at Muscat International Airport.
The 6,200sq m space features in the airport’s new terminal. It is almost three times the retail area of the old terminal.
For Muscat Duty Free, a long-standing partnership between ARI-Middle East and Oman Air, the shopping area represents “a spectacular upgrade from the existing shops, combining strong design features and new and exciting store concepts.” Sense of Place is at the heart of the “premium shopping experience” the retailer has created.
The prominent Muscat Market store features a specially created palm tree ceiling design, taking inspiration from the Omani landscape. At the heart of the new shopping area lies “an exciting and sensory experience”, where travellers can browse the beauty range, Muscat Duty Free said. The retailer has also incorporated a dedicated boutique for Amouage, the fragrance house from Oman.
There are many innovative and interactive features for shoppers to discover in the new complex, and two of the most striking delightfully capture Sense of Place. Oman is fabled as the birthplace of the legendary Sinbad the Sailor, and Lego has produced a spectacular one-off life-size figure of the fictional character (pictured above).
Elsewhere, confectionery brand Chupa Chups has cleverly created a dhow (a traditional sailing vessel) featuring the Omani flag (pictured below).
“This new store is only the first step in delivering exceptional offers, exclusive products and world-class customer service to our shoppers,” said Muscat Duty Free Chairman Dr. Al Shueili. “We have created a thoroughly engaging and visually stimulating shopping environment, which we believe even the seasoned traveller will find appealing.
Muscat Duty Free General Manager Martin Mullen noted the major transformation. “We have worked in close partnership with our suppliers to ensure their brands are presented in a way that both resonates with shoppers and delivers the best brand experience. We are delighted to be offering passengers travelling out of Muscat Airport such a fantastic shopping experience.”
To mark the opening, Muscat Duty Free has developed a memorable promotion. It is offering shoppers the chance to win a freehold apartment in the Omani sea resort of Sifa, and this is another way in which the beauty of the region is being communicated to travellers. For every RO25 (US$65) spent, customers will receive free entry into the draw. The promotion will run until the end of July. It is being hosted in partnership with BMW, which is also providing an i8 car as a raffle prize.
“This is a new chapter in the company’s development,” concluded Muscat Duty Free. “[It] will raise our profile to be among the best retailers in the region.”
