Airport Experience® News - Retail Issue 2026

Top Left, Top Right: WHSmith has two heavily localized retail programs at Kansas City International Airport (MCI) and Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ), with local buyers working on site to offer a closer connection to the local products available. Pictured is the Los Poblanos store at ABQ. Left: Paradies Lagardère hosts pop-up events to showcase local artisans, like this event at Shop The Town at OAK.

helping “customers connect to the product and assign value in a unique way, both of which have impacted sales across local brands.” “We’ve also seen makers post pictures of the signage and share on their own socials and tag Paradies and Plenty, creating future value and increasing awareness of local options in our airport,” Matlock adds. Paradies Lagardère has seen travelers respond “incredibly well” to Meet the Artisans across locations, Kirkpatrick says. “Local travelers often point out products they know from home, whether it’s Detroit vs. Everybody, Sanders Candy or Cherry Republic at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), or Banana Ink, Oma & Popie’s or Fireside Pine at Boise Airport (BOI),” she says. “For those who aren’t local, the reaction is just as strong. They like finding something unique to the state and enjoy taking home a local item they can’t get anywhere else.”

McOwan points out that for small businesses, it’s vital to have this kind of exposure. “The retail world of concessions always evolves through the term of the contract, and although we all intrinsically know that there is a core travel essentials range that sells well nationwide, there is always a need for local entrepreneurs to have a vehicle to grow their business in the airport world.” Outstanding Outcomes Meet the Artisans has certainly been a welcome initiative for a small business like Plenty Mercantile.

“As more and more cities require local brand representation in new contracts, these initiatives help amplify efforts that have already been made by so many people along the way,” Matlock says. “It’s not easy for a prime concessionaire to partner with a local store brand, it’s not a simple process for the store and it’s not a casual process for the maker to be onboarded with a global company. This initiative celebrates those compounded efforts and gives visibility to the network of people working together to make each airport very specific to that city. People want to know that.” Matlock notes that the Meet the Artisans signage in the store has gone a long way in

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AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2026