Airport Experience® News - ACDBE 2023

When Sheridan Mordue, owner of retail gift shop Hip & Humble , was first approached by executives from Paradies Lagardère about entering the airport industry as a joint venture partner, she wasn’t even sure the two parties existed on the same planet. Mordue now has her flagship location at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) and another at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) with two more coming soon. But it wasn’t an easy sell initially. “I always tell the story of the first time I met with Paradies,” she says. “It was like they were from Mars. I remember going home to my husband and saying, ‘I have no idea what they’re talking about but I’m going to go down this path and when I get red flags, then I’ll turn around.’” So far, so good. The company opened at SLC in 2020. Though she still thinks “it’s a different world,” Mordue says it has been fun and rewarding to have people visit her street locations after seeing the store at the airport. Paradies Lagardère focuses on day-to-day operations but Mordue visits her airport store several days every week and focuses intently on assuring brand

Above: Hip & Humble, a locally owned boutique gift and home goods store in Salt Lake City, debuted at Salt Lake City International Airport in 2020.

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