"Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to add 16 stores in T4"

Friday, September 24, 2004

Airport to add 16 stores
Terminal 4 to offer toys, clothes, DVDs
By Hal Mattern
The Arizona Republic


Tourists who find themselves with a little time on their hands at Phoenix
Sky Harbor International Airport soon will be able to get in a little extra
shopping - and eating.

Airport officials announced Thursday that 16 retail outlets and restaurants
will open in the remodeled Terminal 4 next spring. They include a gourmet
popcorn store, a golf shop, a children's toy store and a shop that sells
Tommy Bahama clothing.

There also will be a video shop that rents movies and DVD players to keep
travelers occupied on long flights.

"We're moving beyond the traditional newsstands and gift shops," said David
Cavazos, acting aviation director. 

"People traveling through airports want to shop."

The new shops, whose airport contracts were approved this week by the
Phoenix City Council, are part of a $26 million renovation project at
Terminal 4, which handles 77 percent of Sky Harbor's passenger traffic.

The 16 new shops are part of the project's first phase and are expected to
generate $19.7 million in revenue annually. More shops and restaurants will
be added in later phases.

The shops are a mix of local and national businesses. Among the local
companies are Phoenix-based Pass the Popcorn and Scottsdale's In Celebration
of Golf, which also operates a shop in Sky Harbor's Terminal 2. 

Christopher Payne, president of Pass the Popcorn, said the airport contract
means the company will have to ramp up production and hiring. It will begin
making and bagging 300 to 500 pounds of popcorn a day once its airport
location opens, he said.

The company currently makes about 25 pounds of popcorn a day for its retail
store in north Phoenix. Payne also plans to hire 20 to 25 workers.

Among the national companies is InMotion Pictures of Jacksonville, Fla.,
which rents movies and portable DVD players and sells music and digital
cameras.

Movies on DVD will rent for $5 for five days, while DVD players will cost
$12 a day and will include a movie and a headset, said Chris Shepherd, the
company's director of airport business development. 

He said the store will provide customers with a FedEx package and label to
ship the movies and players back to Phoenix.

Sky Harbor will be the company's 23rd airport location in the country.

Cavazos said the Terminal 4 renovation, scheduled for completion in 2007,
will feature Southwest designs and will result in higher ceilings, brighter
lighting and hard floor surfaces to replace the current carpeting.

"When people get off the plane, they are going to say, 'Wow.' They are going
to know they are in Phoenix, and they are going to know they are at the
gateway to the Southwest," he said. 

"If they are going to be there for an hour and a half, they might as well
have a good time."


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