"Retailers keep an eye on Portland airport"

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Retailers keep an eye on airport 
Will new Tokyo flights bring in the shoppers? Portland hopes so 
By JEANIE SENIOR
The Portland (OR) Tribune 


Northwest Airlines' direct flight between Portland and Tokyo, launched
just over three months ago, seems to be bringing the hoped-for surge in
business from Asian travelers.

"I think it's been very strong," said Joe D'Alessandro, executive
director of POVA - the Portland Oregon Visitors Association - noting
that just last week he watched a group of young Japanese women hop off
the Portland Streetcar and head for the shops on Northwest 23rd Avenue.

"We've seen a definite increase in visitors from not only Japan but
throughout Asia," he said.

Tokyo is Northwest's Asia hub, with flights to 12 cities throughout the
region. That's brought people to Portland from China, South Korea and
Taiwan, according to D'Alessandro, who said POVA recently hosted a group
from China that was seeking information on Portland as a tourist
destination.

The business boost "has been noticeable," said Jeff Miller, manager of
Saks Fifth Avenue, which employs several Japanese-speaking sales
associates. "We've seen a fair number of (Asian) tourists downtown and
in the store.

"They're buying a lot of different things. They're really shopping the
store."

Saks' famous name probably attracts some of those shoppers, but Miller
said, "I also think it's the strong brands we carry," such as designers
Prada and Chanel.

Although Saks isn't advertising in any Japanese-language publications,
Miller said quite a few of the store's customers arrive clutching the
Portland visitors map it appears on.

For competitive reasons, Northwest Airlines Inc. spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch
wouldn't say exactly how full the Portland-Tokyo flights are running,
"but it's meeting our expectations," he said.

In July, Northwest reported that revenue on all its international
flights was 5.5 percent higher than in July 2003, with airplanes flying
89.6 percent full, up from 87.1 percent a year earlier.

D'Alessandro estimated that about 80 percent of the passengers on the
flight from Tokyo are from Japan, the next largest number after that
from Korea.

Northwest, which has been flying DC-10s on the route, will retire those
planes and debut a brand-new Airbus A330-200 on the route Sept. 1.
Ebenhoch said flights from Seattle and San Francisco to Tokyo also will
get new Airbuses, but the switch will happen first in Portland.

Not all retailers are reporting a surge in Asian shoppers.

Victoria Taylor, owner of the Mercantile, an upscale women's clothing
store downtown, said she's advertising in a Japanese-language
publication that targets Japanese tourists. But at this point, she said,
"We just haven't seen the traffic from that segment. . We hope to have
them; we hope to build that business."

Retailing in general has been satisfactory, she said, but lengthy
stretches of hot weather haven't helped increase traffic. Taylor expects
that to change soon.

"Hot days aren't the greatest for shopping right now, but we really have
a beautiful fall collection that has landed, and quite a few events
scheduled for this month going into September."

An uptick in Asian business? "We're not seeing it," said Christine
Carter, marketing director for Mario's, another high-end Portland
retailer. "We see a trickle of Japanese shoppers, but we see them all
the time. To say there's a jump, I think, would be inaccurate."

D'Alessandro said the majority of the leisure visitors Portland is
getting from Asia are young, including school groups and women who
travel together in large numbers: "Portland does really well in that
market."

And that group of travelers, he said, is more likely to head for Saks
and Nordstrom and "the kind of younger-geared retailers."

He added, "Oregon has never really gotten big in the more senior
Japanese market. They will tend to go to established, well-known cities
- Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York."

The shops and restaurants at PDX this month are showing sales 15 percent
above August 2003, said Steve Johnson, a spokesman for the Port of
Portland, which operates the airport.

Until Northwest launched the new flight in June, Portland had been
without a direct Asia link since early 2001, when Delta pulled out of
the service.


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