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“I am battle weary and I feel let down by government“ |
Tom Thomas |
AUSTRALIA. Tom Thomas, the Founder and Owner of Perth downtown retailer Gateway Duty Free and the recent President of the Australian Duty Free Association, is closing his business and retiring after 28 years of outstanding service to Australian travel retail.
Thomas has decided not to renew the lease on the premises occupied by Gateway Duty Free in the Murray Street Mall. As a result the business will cease trading by 30 June this year.
Consequently he has resigned from the Australian Duty Free Association, where he has been a board member since 1996 and President since 2002. In turn that has meant resigning from the Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA).
Thomas told The Moodie Report in a telephone interview this week: “I’m now 65 [he looks about 42 -Ed], approaching retirement age, and as my adult children are all pursuing their own careers, I therefore have no-one to take over the running of the business. I do not wish to be doing this when I am over 70, so now seems the most appropriate time.
“I considered selling the business. I started Gateway from scratch 28 years ago. But my name is synonymous with Gateway, and I would not have been able to protect the good reputation of the business I have spent all that time building up and nurturing. I would certainly not wish to jeopardise the excellent reputation for integrity, service, trustworthiness and dependability that Gateway earned, simply for the sake of a short-term gain.”
Thomas recalled the halcyon days of downtown duty free shopping in Perth when there were around 25 off-airport stores in the West Australia capital. Now the list is down to three – Downtown Duty Free (Nuance), James Richardson and Gateway. Soon there will just be two.
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Gateway Duty Free: A Perth landmark, soon to disappear | |
A number of external factors had whittled away the competition but also influenced his decision to retire, Thomas said. “I am battle weary and I feel let down by government. Fighting industry battles for all of these years is not only challenging and time consuming, it can very often be extremely frustrating.
“Combined, it is also extremely draining. The odds seem never to be in our (ADFA’s) favour, and it often seems, when negotiating with governments that we are fighting well above our weight.”
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He said that the last few years in particular have been extremely challenging for Australia’s duty free business. The Bali bombing in October 2002; the SARS epidemic, the Iraq War, bird flu and the second Bali Bombing of October 2005 all had a major negative impact on tourism and travel-related retailing.
But the crunch for Tom Thomas really came with the impact of the terrorist alert in the UK in August 2006 and the subsequent crackdown on liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) being carried onboard.
“We have bounced back from all the other crises. This one is not so easy. Effectively customers can’t purchase half of the items in our store. The impact of LAGS on the viability of duty free stores was devastating. In the space of just a few weeks prior to its implementation, the sales of liquor and perfumes had already dropped by over -40%,” he recalled.
“With the prospect of 100% of the sale of LAGs items being halted, urgent meetings were called with Ministers and representatives of the Federal Government in Canberra to seek a solution.
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“Tom, you did all this yourself. You run your own business, you are the real winner!“ |
Rakhita Jayawardena |
“Subsequently, some interim measures were introduced to alleviate the situation but due to the election, and a new government in Canberra, these interim measures are yet to be ratified. The ongoing consequences of LAGs security measures, combined with uncertainty with regard to even more severe restrictions should some future terrorist activity be discovered, make the future profitability and viability of the off airport duty free industry in Australia , in my opinion, decidedly fragile.”
More than fragile in fact – “I have no confidence in the future of the Australian off-airport industry,” he said with sadness. And yet the off-airport sector was always such an integral part of the Australian duty free industry. “It was,” he replied. “It has been dying for a number of years.”
Tom Thomas said he has been in the duty free business – “in one form or another” – all his working life. He recalled how at 17 years old he began working for the NAAFI ( Navy Army & Air Force Institutes) in the UK, Gibraltar, Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong and Aden.
“I have managed duty free shops on cruise liners and car ferries as well as onboard aircraft carriers and destroyers. I have sold duty free goods in Heathrow Airport as well as Perth Airport, and, most satisfying of all, in my own Gateway store in Perth’s Murray Street Mall.”
He said he had also enjoyed working with the Australian Duty Free Association and with APTRA and paid tribute to his colleagues in both organisations.
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“I have managed duty free shops on cruise liners and car ferries as well as onboard aircraft carriers and destroyers“ |
Tom Thomas (1968 vintage – shop manager onboard Chandris Lines SS Australis) |
Asked to name a highlight of his years in the business, he recalled the year Gateway Duty Free was short-listed for one of the major Frontier Awards in Cannes. “I think we spent about A$1,000 on our submission compared with around US$50,000 by some of the others,” he said with a chuckle.
“So I was very proud to be short-listed but of course I was a little disappointed when we were beaten by a shop at a London airport that lasted around two years.
“I remember going outside the room and running into (well-known inflight duty free executive) Rakhita Jayawardena. He said in a very loud voice “˜Congratulations Mr Thomas!’ I said “˜What do you mean Rakhita? I lost’ He looked at me and said “˜Tom, look at all the people in that room. Think of who they are. You did all this yourself. You run your own business, you are the real winner!’
“He lifted my spirits and I will never forget it. He’s a great guy and a great friend.”
The other, darker side of the coin, in memory terms was the first Bali bombing. “When I heard the news that Sunday I was immediately devastated, for both personal and business reasons. It was really shocking and of course on a secondary level I knew what it would mean for business.”
Now Tom Thomas will have more time on his hands to mull over all the memories of three decades in a business he loves. “It has certainly given me a wonderful, satisfying and happy life,” he said, “but I now look forward to some new, albeit different, challenges to take on.”
He plans to “smell the roses”, involve himself with other business projects (particularly real estate) and spend more quality time with his wife Lynley, herself a highly popular figure in the business. “I’ll miss all my good friends in the business,” he told The Moodie Report, “and they know who they are.”
He also paid tribute to his staff. “They are very, very good at what they do. They’re not simply employees. They help run the business – it’s their business and that’s how they see it.”
[Note: Tom Thomas can be contacted at tomtwice@gmail.com]
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Tom Thomas, front left in fluorescent green, with his team and Giles Marks and Ben Arriola from Maui Jim sunglasses – “They’re my favourite brand and my favourite company,” says the Gateway Duty Free Founder | |
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