RETAIL KEVIN ROZARIO Temporary stores are not just about incremental retail sales – they can have important strategic functions too. PTW talks to thought leaders and shares five very different examples T he pop-up has become a valuable tool for airport landlords and their retail concession partners. From their early days as small outposts of existing in-store brands, they have morphed into sometimes huge and often flashy standalone temporary stores. Their presence – in-store as well as in concourses – is now commonplace, certainly at hub airports. It would be rare to walk through a gateway such as Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), London Heathrow (LHR) or Hong Kong International (HKG) without encountering a pop-up of some type. Recent activations include L’Artisan Parfumeur in CDG Terminal 2F; Walker’s Scottish Shortbread in LHR T5 during the holidays, complete with a bagpiper; and Blue Bottle Coffee kiosks at HKG. There are myriad reasons why they go up in the first place. The initial idea was to evaluate brands before they were considered for permanent space in duty-free stores. Travel retailers could bring in brands for a month or two and assess their potential before deciding to take them on. Successes and failures It doesn’t always work. Apparel brand Jack Wills tried a pop-up at London Heathrow in 2011 with much fanfare but ventured into the airport space only briefly. However, the concept is a relatively cheap way for brands to try out the airport channel with little to lose if it doesn’t work out – and a lot to gain if it does. Lutz Deubel, commercial director and head of center management at Hamburg Airport, comments, “Pop-up stores are a win-win for everyone. Passengers can look forward to more variety; there are often products to discover that are not (yet) available in our regular retail outlets. And shop operators have the opportunity to test concepts.” The northern German gateway had Swarovski and Delta Bags pop-ups last year and is currently preparing new ones; brands that could also have “the potential to establish themselves as shops at the airport in the long term”, according to Deubel. Fashion brand comme de garçons opened the first ever pop-up store in Berlin in 2004 CDG’s Veuve Clicquot pop-up to celebrate the brand’s 250 th anniversary MAIN IMAGE 26 Passenger Terminal World APRIL 2024 www.PassengerTerminalToday.com