ITALY. Lagardère Travel Retail and Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) today inaugurated the largest Aelia Duty Free store in the world. Opened after a refurbishment of the airport’s Hub East terminal (T1), the 3,000sq m space reveals the retailer’s updated duty free concept and design.
Key features include Sense of Place, with an area dedicated to Italian beauty brands, a larger space for local fine foods concept Bottega dei Sapori and Italian design across the store. Aelia Duty Free said it is committed to bringing travellers “a wide range of local brands to meet shopper expectations’ for authenticity but also to support local economies and producers, and reduce its environmental impact with shorter supply chains”.
Bottega dei Sapori offers fine Italian gastronomy (including a fresh offer), improved design and “immersive categories” to grasp travellers’ attention as they navigate the space. The concept’s storytelling has also been improved, said the retailer, with tasting opportunities at multiple touchpoints in the area across categories such as wine, chocolate, biscuits, limoncello, olive oil, pasta and others.
The store offers one of the widest range of Italian and global brand portfolios across the duty free industry, said the company. “Lagardère Travel Retail has worked hand-in-hand with its global brand partners to best embody their DNAs in Rome and create experiences that travellers cannot find anywhere else,” said the retailer. New in-store animations include masterclasses, live demonstrations of cocktail making, chocolate tasting, flash make-up and perfume testing.
The store also houses extended ‘phy-gital’ capabilities such as virtual trial make-up, digital totems, enriched content, masterclass brand animation and a click & collect service.
Highlighted best-sellers and novelties, an immersive toys area, and a World of Italy souvenirs area also use digital features to showcase the product offering.
The new store also offers a broader promotional offer and travel exclusives that the retailer said supports “the unique value proposition of duty free to travellers and reinforces its competitive price positioning”.
Lagardère Travel Retail Italy CEO Alberto Niero said: “It is with great pleasure that today we announce the opening of a new store in the Domestic/ Schengen terminal of Rome Fiumicino Airport. With a total floor area of about 3,000sq m, it is one of the largest duty free stores in the world and the largest managed by Lagardère Travel Retail.
“The new store is a clear sign of Lagardère’s trust and faith in the future of the travel retail industry. In partnership with ADR, we went through many successes as well as extremely difficult situations such as the dramatic drop in traffic during the Covid pandemic. Together we completed a very ambitious project and are confident that this new store will strongly contribute to us achieving our goals.”
Aeroporti di Roma CEO Marco Troncone said: “The opening of the largest Aelia Duty Free in the world at Fiumicino Airport represents a significant acknowledgment of the airport’s potential, as well as an encouraging sign of recovery. This new shop, which is part of the ongoing renovation and expansion plan of Fiumicino, will be the gateway to the new large Domestic/Schengen area scheduled to open next Spring, and will contribute to offer passengers the best experience; an experience that, even when it comes to retail, is increasingly oriented towards innovation, customisation and engagement.”
The partners said that the opening is “testament to the very strong partnership between Lagardère Travel Retail and ADR”. The said that “with close collaboration, deep understanding of each other needs and shared values, ambitions can materialise even under the most challenging circumstances”.
