Sydney Airport has selected WHSmith as its new travel essentials retail operator, with six retail outlets set to open in August at Terminal 1, departures. Sydney says that the arrival of WHSmith follows a competitive tender process that ‘sought the most impressive player in the travel essentials category with the greatest service offering’.

The transformation of T1 began in January, with works to be staged over the next year-and-a- half. Sydney Airport General Manager, Retail Glyn Williams says that further announcements on new retail, food and dining partners at T1 will be made over the coming months.

WHSmith store at Melbourne Airport’s T4.

According to the airport, the new larger WHSmith format stores within T1 will introduce ‘highly personalised product zones’ and feature a number of external store-in-store concepts from major brands.

“This is a real evolution from the traditional books and news operations and introduces a reinvigorated range of must-have travel product essentials, that make every journey easier in a convenient one-stop shop,” said Sydney Airport General Manager, Retail Glyn Williams.

“WHSmith is one of the world’s largest and most successful retail operators of travel essentials and we are looking forward to a successful partnership across the six locations in the T1 terminal.”

WHSmith Australia CEO Paul Yardley said: “We are delighted to announce our new concept stores at Sydney Airport’s T1 as we continue to invest in creating market-leading retail experiences. This underscores our commitment to the Australian travel retail industry and our growth ambitions in this market.”