Los Angeles World Airports has awarded the contracts for four retail packages at Los Angeles International (LAX) to a joint venture led by Hudson Group. The ownership team includes Hudson Group, as well as four local Los Angeles companies: Magic Johnson Enterprises, Concourse Ventures, The Zaman Group and Soto & Sanchez. A fifth retail contract, involving a single store, was awarded to XpresSpa.
In addition, LAWA awarded three food and beverage contracts to Areas USA LAX LLC and a fourth contract to THS/Marbella Food Service Partnership, a partnership between Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services and Marbella. The Los Angeles City Council approved the 10-year contracts last week, and LAWA said it expects all locations to be open in 2011.
The four-package retail award includes 21 news, gift, book and specialty retail stores, totaling 20,716 sq. ft. of selling space in Terminals 4, 5, 7 and 8. All of the concepts are scheduled to open in 2011.
“It was an exciting win, one of the largest in our company’s history,” says Joe DiDomizio, president and CEO of Hudson Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dufry, AG of Basel, Switzerland. “To win four of four was really thrilling for us, and we are grateful for the confidence that LAWA has placed in our team.”
LAWA said its goal was to provide passengers a high-quality shopping experience with a variety of new and innovative shopping options that offer a “sense of place” reflecting the Los Angeles region.
DiDomizio says the ownership group provides a strong local presence, and several of the concepts themselves are local brands with national or global appeal.
“L.A. has so much culture, so much diversity and so many great concepts,” he says. “We didn’t have to separate local, national and universally recognized concepts because many of those existed all in one in L.A.”
Among those is a new sports concept called Magic Johnson Sports. Earvin “Magic” Johnson is also an equity owner in the overall joint venture. Other new concepts include Rip Curl, See’s Candies, The Mattel Experience, Kitson, NBC Universal Studios, Bartels’ Harley-Davidson, Hollywood Bling and a fashion boutique called Hollywood Style. The contracts also include tried-and-true airport retail brands such as Hugo Boss and Sunglass Hut. Newsstand brands included in the proposal are Hudson News, CNN Newsstand Los Angeles, I Love LA, LA Times Newsstand, People News, Entertainment Weekly News and E! News. Bookstore brands include Hudson Booksellers and Vroman’s, a local Los Angeles bookstore.
DiDomizio says new airport brands Kitson and Hollywood style will bring L.A.’s fashion scene to the airport. Hollywood Style was designed to emulate a trendy L.A. boutique, with an ever-changing array of the hottest and latest styles from the streets and shops of L.A. Launch brands in the store include Ed Hardy, King Baby jewelry, Oakley and others. Kitson is what DiDomizio calls an “alternative store” featuring cutting-edge fashion brands.
NBC Universal Studios conveys the excitement of the Universal Studios theme park and NBC network television studios. Mattel, one of the largest toymakers in the world, will be featured in The Mattel Experience, and Rip Curl captures the essence of southern California beach lifestyles.
On the food and beverage side, LAWA said its goal was to establish a setting where passengers are offered a unique Los Angeles experience with local and regional eateries provided by celebrity chefs and popular local restaurants. The food and beverage contracts cover 20 terminal locations totaling approximately 50,000 square feet, bundled into five packages ranging from two to seven units. A fifth package will be rebid due to potential conflict of interest issues.
Areas USA CEO Xavier Rabell says the company “looks forward to mobilizing our team to do our part to upgrade the LAX passenger experience.” In keeping with the “sense of place” directive from LAWA, Areas’ lineup consists of 80% of local and regional brands.
The concepts in the Areas contracts include Ford’s Filling Station, a gastro-pub concept from Culver City, Calif.; B Grill by BOA, an extension of the city’s BOA Steakhouse; local Mexican concept Homegirl Café©; and Engine Co. No. 28, a local concept that features regional cooking of firehouses across the country. In addition, the lineup includes Klatch Coffee, Carl’s Jr., Natural Break, Lemonade, Concert Bar, Corona Bar & Grill and Sammy’s Pizza.
The contract awarded to a joint venture between Delaware North and Marbella Food Services includes Skewers by Morimoto and Wolfgang Puck Express.
Skewers is the new restaurant concept by Food Network Iron Chef Morimoto slated for Terminal 5, which will feature yakitori-style meals, a popular street and bar food in Japan that consists of skewered grilled meats with vegetables, served with rice bowls.
“We’re thrilled to move forward with these two concepts at LAX, including the completely brand new Skewers that will allow travelers to experience Chef Morimoto’s distinctive take on Japanese cuisine,” said Bob Stanton, vice president of business development for Delaware North Companies Travel Hospitality Services. Delaware North also operates the recently opened Pink’s Hot Dogs LAX and the Daily Grill Restaurant, both in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, as well as The Encounter Restaurant & Bar, located inside the landmark LAX Theme Building.
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