A string of luxury retailers have made a New Zealand debut opening up shops in Auckland Airport’s recently refurbished international departures terminal.
Luxury handbag brands Kate Spade and Michael Kors, along with Italian retailers Furla and Maxmara, have each opened their first New Zealand store in the terminal.
The Airport’s luxury shopping precinct began opening in July last year, first with Michael Kors and jewellery retailer Partridge’s Rolex store. Since then other brands such as Coach, Lacoste, Fossil, Montblanc and Boss by Hugo Boss have opened permanent stores.
Richard Barker, general manager of retail at Auckland Airport, said luxury was a segment the Airport was previously missing, and work to secure the new market entrants began over two years ago.ADVERTISEMENT
Auckland Airport carried out consumer research to identify what brands were most in demand and were missing from New Zealand’s shopping arena.
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«When we first did this research the likes of H&M and Zara weren’t even in the country and those [brands] came up but their formats are too big for airports so we spoke to lots of brands and came up with the proposition of ‘best of New Zealand and the world’,» Barker said.
«We deliberately aimed for what is described … as ‘affordable luxury’ that had appeal for [Kiwis] and international visitors.»
Other luxury retailers such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton were considered but deemed too out of reach for most so the Airport selected «tier 2» alternatives, Barker said.
The revamped terminal is also home to All Blacks, Icebreaker and Whittaker’s stores to service international visitors, he said.
The Airport’s departures terminal has been going through expansion and refurbishment for close to three years. Part of the revamp was to introduce a new food and beverage offering, Barker said, including new eateries Better Burger, Mexico and Al Brown’s Best Ugly Bagels.
Source: Nzherald.co.nz