Areas has opened eight new stores at Madrid Barajas Airport and the company says it expects sales from these outlets to generate more than E.30m ($41m) over the five-year contract term. The latest openings mean that Areas now has a presence in all of the terminals at Madrid-Barajas.

The company said: “Through this operation, the company quadruples its retail outlets in Barajas and secures a presence throughout the capital’s airport, where it already operates four other concessions – two Sibarium (deli products), a The Airport Market (supermarket) and a Travel Mate (travel goods) – all located in the T4 terminal, the most modern in the airport. 

“With these new concessions, Areas will achieve important growth in revenue which its presence in Barajas brings. In 2010, the company had revenues of E.2.8m ($3.8m) from its three existing stores, and it expects to enjoy a significant growth in revenue from these eight new stores, reaching over 30 million euros in the next five years.” 

NEW JOBS AND STORE LOCATIONS
The new outlets involve the hiring of 45 new employees and are distributed among terminals 1, 2 and 3. The new outlets consist of two Sibarium stores in terminals T1 and T2; two Aita shops specialiising in costume jewellery and accessories (T1 and T3); two Adidas retail stores (T1 and T3); a Piquadro store, selling office supplies and leather goods; and a new The Sweet Market, which sells chocolates and sweets (T1). 

In addition to these stores, Areas also operates 51 restaurants at Madrid-Barajas. The company’s biggest investment in this domain was carried out in 2006, when terminal T4 was inaugurated and the company invested E.18m ($25m). 

SIX MORE OPENINGS ELSEWHERE
Meanwhile, Areas has also recently launched six new additional new retail outlets elsewhere. The coastal town of Platja d’Aro, in Girona, now boasts a new official FC Barcelona shop that the company operates, in addition to the two others it runs in Barcelona. In the traveller-in-transit arena, the company has also opened a The Station Market (sweets and deli products) in the AVE section of the Atocha train station in Madrid.

In late March next month it will also open four new stores in the new terminal at Alicante Airport: a Sibarium (deli products and products with a designation of origin label); a News and Books (newspapers and books); a store space that will house a Travel Mate (travel articles); a Cottet store (sunglasses); and another shop that will sell products from the Tuc Tuc (children’s clothes ) and Story Store (toys) brands.