On 19 September, Danish jewellery brand Pandora and LS Travel Retail Roma opened a 31sq m ‘Concept Store’ at Rome Fiumicino Airport (also known as Leonardo da Vinci International Airport) fitted with new ‘Evolution’ furniture; an interior design feature of the next stage in Pandora’s store strategy.

 

“Almost 38 million passengers visit the airport, which makes this a very important and attractive store location for us,” says Julian Mullins, Vice President, Travel Retail Pandora.

 

Rome airport also saw the reopening of the LSTR-operated Montblanc boutique last Friday. The 60sq m store will carry Montblanc’s collections of writing instruments, watches, leather goods and jewellery for men.

 

“It is a great pleasure for us to announce the opening of the new Pandora flagship store,” said Fulvio Fassone, Aeroporti di Roma Chief Commercial Officer at the official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

 

Ribbon-cutting from left: Frank Passmann Montblanc ITR; Fulvio Fassone ADR; Séverine Lanthier LS travel retail Roma and Julian Mullins, Vice President, Travel Retail Pandora.

 

‘A REAL AIRPORT MALL’

“Pandora is a prestigious European brand, which further enriches the shopping mall at Leonardo da Vinci, with jewellery products positioned in a trade segment that is quickly evolving. Italy’s main airport – with more than 140 retail activities, 45 food & beverage outlets and 40 commercial services – offers a wide range of brands, ranging from casual to luxury goods, through the best local, Italian and international products, all within the over 25,000sq m dedicated to shopping, which make the Italian Capital’s destination a real ‘airport mall’.”

 

Séverine Lanthier, Chief Executive Officer of LS travel retail Roma said: “I would like to praise the excellent collaboration we have had throughout this project, with Aeroporti di Roma and also with Pandora, a brand with whom we have been working for many years in Asia, but for the first time in Europe. I am convinced that this impressive store will meet with the success we expect from it.”

 

Pandora says that its ‘Concept Stores’ generate more than 80% of the company’s total direct sales and are found in many major cities such as: New York, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Moscow, Hong Kong, Sydney and Beijing. During 2014, Pandora expects to open more than 275 concept stores.

 

Pandora is publicly listed on the NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen stock exchange in Denmark and in 2013, Pandora’s total revenue was DKK 9bn (around €1.2bn).

 

MONTBLANC REOPENS

Pandora was not the only luxury brand in the spotlight at Rome Airport last week. To coincide with the opening of a brand new Pandora store, LSTR also reopened its Montblanc boutique in Terminal 1.

 

Frank Passmann, Montblanc President, Travel Retail International said: “We have had a long partnership with Aeroporti di Roma company and are thrilled to return to Fiumicino Airport in great style.

 

“Together we celebrate today’s boutique opening with our key partner LS Travel Retail, who successfully operate a wide range of Montblanc stores globally.”

 

Fulvio Fassone, Commercial Director of Aeroporti di Roma S.p.A, said: “This new sales outlet, which caters especially to business passengers, increases the luxury offering at Fiumicino Airport, which already has 26 shops and stands together with London and Paris among the top European airports in the industry.”

 

The boutique will carry products from the accessory brand’s classic collections alongside exclusive pieces like the Leonardo da Vinci Limited Edition. “The Limited Edition is honouring the greatest artist of the Italian Renaissance – Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519),” says Montblanc.

 

“Besides being a painter, sculptor and architect, he studied the sciences as an inventor and also pioneered the studies of flying. His ingenious inventions became manifest in diverse manuscripts and served as an inspiration for the Limited Edition Leonardo.”