Travel retail is picking up pace at railway stations and airports. John Ryan assesses some retail offers for those on the move.
Standing bleary-eyed in the queue to buy a newspaper at WHSmith’s airside Luton Airport store at 5am last week was never going to be one of life’s more positive moments. A mix of holidaymakers and businessmen on a budget were also waiting in line. And in spite of the early hour, there was a mild sense of frustration as only one out of the four tills was staffed while two out of the four self-service checkouts were not working.
Eventually, the front of the queue was reached, but not without grumbles along the length of the line and the feeling that things could, and should, be better than this. Welcome to the world of travel retail – a place where choice is limited and every square centimetre of space is sweated.
Peter Williams, senior independent director at Asos and formerly chief executive of Alpha Retail, the company specialising in duty free spaces in airports, says that much of the “surge in travel retail has been in airports”. He adds that there has been an element of Hobson’s choice about much of what is on view because rents in airports have been high, and therefore the number of brands that were able to be present in these locations was inevitably limited.
The nature of the travel offer is changing, however, and increasingly the focus is shifting towards railway stations as the next opportunity, although airports continue to attract high street and luxury names.
Williams says: “For years [the railway station concourse] wasn’t exploited at all and retailers like WHSmith made profits out of rail stations because they were given long leases at low rents.” He continues: “As architectural places, these are temples to travel and it’s a shame that more hasn’t been done.”
The arrival of the newly refurbished St Pancras a few years ago set a new standard, however, and there was a sense that train stations might once again be glamorous places where you could meet, greet, entertain and do a little shopping. Much like an airport, in fact.
All of which might lead you to expect things to be different in King’s Cross, which has just reopened following a complete overhaul of its interior. This is not an international terminus, but it is a major point of arrival for thousands on a daily basis. The same is true of Cannon Street, which has also been refurbished.
And, to fly the flag for airports, even destinations such as Gatwick, which has recently more or less completed the makeover of its North Terminal, comprise retailers that have looked at what is required, rather than cramming the space and hoping that people will buy.
WHSmith, King’s Cross
The low-key, free-floating WHSmith logo, set high up on the glazed storefront, is a rather more tasteful version of the retailer’s normal identity and sets the tone for a highly edited offer. The high units certainly mean a lot of merchandise in the mid-shop, but the display of best-selling books that fill the niches on the right hand perimeter wall and the chiller cabinets with drinks and sandwiches on the left-hand side do work to make things clear.
At the time of visiting, the shop was busy and the six self-checkouts at the back of the shop were all working (although one did stop functioning for some minutes), as was the member of staff ensuring that this continued to be the case. The inevitable chocolate bars were being offered to shoppers who opted to go to the staffed checkouts and the roll-cage with magazines probably shouldn’t have been in place at 8.30am – just in time for the morning peak. Nonetheless, this was a far better proposition than its Luton Airport sister.
London News Company, Gatwick North Terminal
And just to prove that WHSmith is also on the improve travel-retail case, there’s the London News Company, a new format from the retailer. This is WHSmith by any other name, but until you get up close and personal with the offer, you’d be forgiven for not realising. Phillip Hill, creative director of consultancy International Visual, who visited the store shortly after it opened earlier this year, said: “As soon as I was through security and turned left, this was like a beacon. My first reaction was that House of Fraser had opened in Gatwick because everything’s painted black. It’s refreshing and it looks like they’ve got rid of a lot of product because they’ve realised they can drive sales harder with less stock, as it will be easier to find your way around.”
A WHSmith spokesman confirmed that further London News Company stores are planned.
Watermark, King’s Cross
The arrival in the UK of LS Travel Retail’s Watermark bookshop format in King’s Cross, was greeted with a fair amount of coverage when it opened in mid-March and the 1,075 sq ft unit was designed to benefit from its location at platform 9¾. While, no such platform exists, the store is in fact set back from one of the major exits from the station platforms and busy people were rushing through the concourse.
The problem for Watermark is that while Harry Potter fans may approve of its platform 9¾ location, this not only puts it away from the main run of things, but also separates it from the rest of the retail offer in the station. It also happens to have a shopfit that does look remarkably like a branch of Waterstones, although the lightbox in the shop that tells shoppers that through an in-store portal they can access 5 million books or 200,000 downloadable e-books, does seem an attractive idea.
In sharp contrast to WHSmith, across the concourse, this store was devoid of shoppers.
Relay, Cannon Street
City terminus Cannon Street is another London station that has just come to the end of an extensive remodelling and Relay is the only mainstream retailer in the station. This is an LS Travel Retail fascia and unlike the Watermark store in King’s Cross, it is in pole position. The Relay name will be familiar to travellers who have used stations or airports in many mainland European countries, although this store follows the Asia-Pacific template.
It did not have roll-cages waiting to be emptied. Neither did it try to make shoppers buy unwanted confectionery.
It might have benefited, however, from not having a central floor-to-ceiling metal bar across the middle of the entrance, which did serve to make viewing the initial gondola more difficult. That said, it was tidy and easily navigated.
Fin Casey, UK and Ireland managing director for LS Travel Retail, said: “I’d like to think we’d be in a position to announce the second Relay store before the end of the year.”
Foyles, St Pancras
The London-based book retailer has had a store in the glamorous surroundings of St Pancras since 2008 and in the four years of its existence, it has proved that there is a market for a retailer selling more than the top 10, 20 or 30 titles on the best-seller list.
Irrespective of the time of day, this beautifully merchandised shop always seems to have shoppers perusing the tomes. The interesting part about the offer is that much of what’s on view can be seen across the road in the King’s Cross Watermark store. While it has had time to establish itself, perhaps this also serves to illustrate how even within the limited confines of a railway station, choosing the right location is central to attracting shoppers.
Gathering speed
So where does all this lead for travel retailers and is this a fruitful source of future revenue? Williams points out that there is a “limited opportunity” for brands and retailers operating in railway stations, but that “just as with large shopping centres and city centre high streets, the most high-profile locations will always outsell secondary space”.
Design also counts and if anything, the scramble for time-pressed shoppers is even redder of tooth and claw than is the case elsewhere – so the need to make things simple is obvious. And as far as the types of retailers that are likely to succeed in stations, Williams says that selling fashion will always prove more difficult than other categories, but “in what is a pretty terrible micro-economic climate, there is a chance”.
For pick-up food retailers and stationers in particular, rail station concourse retail remains one of the last truly untamed frontiers and there is much that remains to be done.
Planes, trains and retail
- St Pancras remains the benchmark for station retailing
- Booksellers can benefit, from station locations, but choosing the right unit is even more important than usual
- The refurbished King’s Cross concourse opened in March
- Airports continue to be among retail’s highest grossing spaces
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