Airport Experience® News - Retail Issue 2026

Paradies Lagardère worked with Plenty Mercantile to create signage throughout the store drawing attention to the people behind each local item. “With a growing interest and emphasis on local store brands and locally made products, Paradies took it a step further and added faces, names and stories to the locally produced products with this signage. We assisted the local buyer in connecting with our local vendors and they created the signage to match our company branding,” Matlock says. Kirkpatrick notes that the Meet the Artisans program has become a priority for Paradies Lagardère because of how meaningful it is for all parties involved. “For travelers, it turns a quick stop into a chance to discover something unique and memorable. For artisans, it opens the door to a much larger audience than they might reach on their own. And for airports, it reinforces a sense of place, something travelers increasingly look for as they seek more authentic experiences, and it helps airports feel more rooted in the communities they represent,” she says.

For Avolta, the Meet the Maker initiative grew out of two longtime commitments for the company, Baker says, including creating memorable moments for travelers and connecting with local communities. “We saw an opportunity to offer travelers authentic, community-rooted experiences that give them a chance to discover something new about the places they’re passing through,” Baker notes. “Programs like Meet the Maker enrich the overall airport ecosystem in several important ways. They provide small businesses with a high-visibility platform to share their craft. They offer travelers a more personal and memorable retail experience. And they help us deliver on our commitment to creating localized, authentic, sense ‑ of ‑ place environments that reflect the communities we serve. “As airports increasingly embrace experiential retail, initiatives like this ensure travelers feel connected to the region in meaningful ways,” she adds. Offering a thoughtful selection of local products has long been a focus for WHSmith and chief development officer

Above: Brittney Matlock (right), co-owner of Plenty Mercantile at OKC, says Meet the Artisans signage and programming “gives visibility to the network of people working together to make each airport very specific to that city.”

Roderick McOwan notes that hosting trunk shows has been a “great way of enhancing the passenger experience, meeting the artisan or artist, and then being able to monetize the experience.” McOwan adds, “Our approach is no different to other concessionaires in terms of ensuring we can curate a well-planned and thought-out range of localized products but I think where we’ve really differentiated ourselves can be seen in two of our very heavily localized programs in Kansas City International Airport (MCI) and Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ)…. In these large, locally focused product programs, we also have a local buyer on site.”

18

AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2026