Gift shopping on the fly just got more tempting at Detroit Metro Airport with the weekend openings of Swarovski and L'Occitane en Provence.
The upscale shops, both with locations at the Somerset Collection in Troy and other local malls, opened side-by-side at the airport's McNamara Terminal near the Westin Hotel entrance into Concourse A.
The 430-square-foot Swarovski crystal store sells fashion jewelry, watches and home accessories. It is one of 17 licensed boutiques in the U.S., including four airport locations. Swarovski has nearly 300 in North America.
Retailers find airport stores attractive because they attract millions of people a year who have long waits at the terminal. The airport stores are often smaller than mall stores, but produce higher sales per square foot.
Detroit Metro Airport draws 32 million travelers a year.
John Heidt, vice president of retail for Swarovski and a Farmington native, said the Detroit market has been strong for the brand. And the Detroit airport is one of the primary gateways to Asia, where the brand has strong recognition.
He said the Somerset Collection store in Troy is one of the retailer's top 10 stores in the country. And in the past 2 1/2 years, when the local economy has been at its worst, the Somerset store has ranked first in terms of comparable sales increases, he said.
"That store is on fire for us," he said.
The Swarovski-licensed airport stores can register sales of $1,500 to $5,000 per square foot. That's 25% to 30% higher than a similarly sized mall location, Heidt said.
"That's why we're so bullish on airports right now," Heidt said.
Top sellers for the retailer include a crystal pen that sells for $34, and its annual ornament that sells for $75.
Airport spokesman Scott Wintner said the L'Occitane store also attracts "a surge of Asian customers." One of the retailer's largest markets is in Asia and with exchange rates making the products three times as expensive there, travelers from Asia often buy a year's supply of the product to take home, he said.
Wintner said the airport's 120 retail and restaurant locations are in such demand that it rarely has vacant space. It has 140,000 square feet of concession space, making it one of the largest airport programs in the country.
Four Borders locations changed hands this summer, for example, as the Ann Arbor bookseller liquidated after attempting Chapter 11 reorganization. The four spots at the McNamara and North terminals are operated under the Heritage Books name.
The airport mall also features Brooks Brothers, Brighton Collectibles and the PGA Tour Shop.
It's an impressive roster of tenants, said Birmingham-based retail consultant Ed Nakfoor.
"You have a captive audience. You have a lot of business travelers and it is a hub to Asia, so it's a good demographic for those stores," he said. "Gone are the days when it was just T-shirt shops and newsstands."
The Swarovski and L'Occitane stores are licensed boutiques owned and operated by Corliss Stone-Littles, a company that specializes in airport retail.
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