Collezioni, the luxury brands retail concept pioneered by the luxury division of the McArthurGlen Group—which first debuted at Venice Marco Polo airport in 2008—will be operating at two further European airports, Porto and Dublin, by the end of the summer.

At Porto, Collezioni is opening 14 prestige stores in the international departures area in two phases: the first to be completed by this summer and the second by the end of the year. This compares with 21 units opened at Venice Marco Polo, which handled 6.9m passengers in 2008. Five-year-old Porto airport is operated by ANA Aeroportos de Portugal and handled 4.5m passengers last year. Retail director Luis Rodolfo said: “Collezioni will deliver the top-quality fashion that stops passengers in their tracks.”

Meanwhile at Dublin airport, Collezioni opens this summer with a smaller six-unit operation, housed in the €55m ($72.2m) new extension in terminal one. Dublin ranks as Europe’s 11th largest airport with 23.5m passengers in 2008, according to ACI Europe.

Nicole Mezzasalma

Source: www.dfnionline.com, 27-Apr-2009