Melbourne International airport has announced details of some of the key brands set to open in the airport’s luxury terminal two precinct later this year.The likes of Tiffany & Co, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Max Mara and Emporio Armani are among the confirmed labels in the airport’s new high-end fashion destination.This forms part of the airport’s continued effort to enhance the traveller experience with an investment of around A$50m ($38m). The investment followed an extensive customer research project three years back, undertaken by Think Global and Urbis back to better understand the preferences of international visitors in terms of brands and services.
The research itself revealed a desire for quality brands when travelling, including authentic luxury goods with strong brand recognition.Enhancing the journey for Melbournians and international travellers alike and delivering a vibrant retail precinct that mirroring the city’s world-renowned shopping, food and beverage and cultural experiences, forms part of the airports vision for the T2 redevelopment.
The vision comprises four distinct retail precincts; expansion of T2’s duty-free division, introduction of world-class luxury shopping, a gourmet hospitality precinct and an iconic lane-way style retail offering.To help create an airport that “Melbourne can be proud of”, the new luxury brands have been chosen and curated to meet the evolving needs and expectations of passengers.Speaking to DFNIonline in February, Melbourne airport Chief of Retail Andrew Gardiner said: “We introduced an array of retailers to T4 and the majority of them are doing very well. We are very pleased with the outcome.“Now the redevelopment of T2, is again done on the back of that customer research taking into account the changing customer base and demographics.”Reflecting on the aforementioned T2 luxury brand line-up Gardiner remarked: “The luxury precinct is really taking Melbourne airport to the next level with 11 of the world’s most prestigious brands set to enhance our international passenger experience.“We’re absolutely thrilled to bring these brands to Melbourne airport. Our domestic and international passengers have informed us of the stores they want to see and we’re delivering on that with high end brands that we know our travellers love.”The new high-end precinct will be located adjacent to the next generation duty-free store, which provides travellers with access to a range of global brands and best-on-offer deals at international departures and arrivals. Overall retail space has increased 30%.It will also see brands including Australia’s leading official watch speciality store Watches of Switzerland, Swiss designer Bally, Michael Kors, Hugo Boss and Furla, as well as upscale business and travel lifestyle brand Tumi. All stores are scheduled to be open between the end of July and end of November.Founded in 1837 in New York City, international luxury brand Tiffany & Co is excited to open their store within the dedicated space.“We are extremely excited to be opening at Melbourne airport and offering local and international travellers the convenience of shopping at Tiffany & Co.,” commented Tiffany & Co Australia and New Zealand vice-president and managing director Glen Schlehuber.
“Our prominent location in the new luxury precinct provides us with the ideal environment to showcase our jewellery collections such as our renowned Tiffany Diamonds and icon collections Tiffany T, Tiffany HardWear, watches, gifts and accessories.”Gardiner added: “Melbourne airport has invested more than A$50m in the first phase of the retail transformation, enhancing the traveller journey. This is just the start of our upgrades in terminal two and we look forward to transforming the space with the aim of becoming the chosen international gateway to Australia.”Total passenger traffic increased 5.2% to 35.2 million in 2016, of which 9.2 million travelled internationally. Retail revenue reached A$325.9m in the financial year ended June 30 2016, up from A$301.5m in 2015. Publised on www.onceoff.com