Airport Experience® News - Retail & Services Issue 2025

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

REACHING HIGH Johnston & Murphy Targets Rapid Expansion In Challenging Specialty Retail Sector

BY CAROL WARD

ohnston & Murphy is one of the stalwarts of the North American airport specialty retail

in what I would call our flagship location in the airport world – in Charlotte – which has been really successful for us. We just relocated and expanded in Denver as well. We’re going to be expanding at [ Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)] later this fall. “Then we have a couple of new locations that we’re trying to get open this year – a second one at [ Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)] and another location at DFW ( Dallas Fort Worth International Airport ),” Ewoldsen continues. “We have a few more things in the hopper right now that we can’t quite talk about just yet.” The store expansions at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and Denver International Airport (DEN) allow Johnston & Murphy to offer a wider

J

business. The Nashville-based company opened its first airport store at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) in 1994 and since then has expanded to locations in 25 North American airports. If company President Danny Ewoldsen has his way, that number will skyrocket in the next five years. “Specifically for airports, we’d love to double our footprint,” he says. “We’re in 25 airports today - we think we could be in 50.” Ewoldsen says the company has been on a growth trajectory despite the pressures on the overall specialty retail sector. “We’ve been growing both through expansions and relocations of some of our existing real estate,” he says. “We expanded

Above: Johnston & Murphy’s Charlotte Douglas International Airport location (top) and its Denver International Airport location (above) have both been expanded, allowing the company to offer a broader range of shoes, apparel and accessories to travelers.

36

AX NEWS SEPTEMBER 2025