Canada’s Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is planning a series of retail transformations at its US and International terminals in response to heightened passenger demand for affordable luxury goods.

In an exclusive interview with TRBusiness, available in the March print issue, Susan Stiene, Director of Commercial Services, revealed the airport is planning to convert two stores in the US departures terminal – one duty free and one duty paid – into a walkthrough duty free store in the central gate area featuring shop-in-shops geared towards medium-priced goods.

The new units are scheduled to open around Q1 2018.

In line with a move to transition the retail experience from luxury to medium-priced offers, a new tranche of ‘stalls’ are also set to open in the International Terminal from July this year.

STRONG ATV GROWTH

Commercial sales increased substantially across the airport in 2016, including food & beverage, retail and duty free, which notched double-digit growth.

Increased spending across all nationality segments resulted in ATV rising double-digit, helped on by the addition of new boutiques in the international area such as Gucci, Bulgari, Burberry and Bottega Veneta, located in a central area past World Duty Free Group’s main walkthrough store.

The Dufry-owned retailer operates three stores at the International Terminal after security on level 3 and at gates C and D, with another unit after security at the US Terminal.

Alongside the aforementioned luxury brands operating at the International Terminal are units from Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Cartier, Collection, Go Travel, Hermès, Omega, Salvatore Ferragamo and Hudson News. Meanwhile, Bench and Desigual feature among a range of other stores at the US Terminal.

“Our passengers were up over 10% last year to hit 22.3mn,” Stiene told TRBusiness. “Sales and ATV in the US area all increased substantially.”

“In the [International] duty free area we put a series of boutique stalls in place which opened last year and that helped substantially – but we don’t rest on our laurels. We don’t take our sales for granted and we work hard on them.”

Stiene says the airport’s close collaboration with WDFG has resulted in the assembly of Asia-Pacific teams, including for Korean and Taiwanese passengers, to concentrate specifically on sales for those markets.

NEW ROUTES AND SERVICES

In 2016, the airport added 18 new services, including 12 new destinations: San Jose, Brisbane, San Diego, Chicago, Dublin, Rome, Xiamen, Delhi, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Halifax and Shenyang.

Two new airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Beijing Capitol, joined the ranks at YVR, with flag carrier Air Canada introducing seven new services throughout the course of the year.

New Cathay Pacific route frequencies from YVR to Hong Kong are set to increase from 14 flights to 17 flights per week in late March, with British Airways’ A380 returning from May, with a raft of other services expected this year.