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SPAIN. World Duty Free Group (WDFG) has been accredited as a “˜Habanos Specialist’ by Habanos distributors worldwide. The company is the first travel retailer in the world to receive this accreditation, which extends to 19 stores at Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga, Valencia, Alicante, Bilbao, Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Sevilla and Jerez airports.
After winning the tender to operate AENA’s duty free concessions across Spain’s airports in late 2012, WDFG carried out extensive refurbishment of its stores. As part of this, the company remodelled its humidors and installed new ones, incorporating the latest technology, to create the optimum conditions in which to store the products. The investment also allowed the company to offer a more extensive range of products.
The “˜Habanos Specialist’ accreditation recognises these new features in the stores, said WDFG, “as well as the world-class service, extensive product knowledge and specialist advice that customers receive from WDFG’s expert staff”.
WDFG Global Head of Liquor & Tobacco David de Miguel said: “The “˜Habanos Specialist’ programme recognises the enormous effort that our business has made to ensure we store these unique products in the optimum conditions and provide the perfect cigar to our customers. It also recognises the expertise of our staff, who are extremely knowledgeable in this area and offer first class advice to all our customers, from the more inexperienced, to the most discerning.”
The cigar areas in the nominated stores will now carry a distinctive emblem from Habanos, which (to November 2014) was shared by only 56 retailers throughout Spain.
The Habanos shopper profile includes primarily business executives, noted WDFG, but also includes Spanish, British, German, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Americans (North and South) and Russian visitors to the country.
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The accreditation covers 19 stores across WDFG’s Spanish estate |
