"Sales slide at airport stores for sake of security"

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Sales slide at airport stores for sake of security
BY DANIEL WAGNER AND KATY STECH
Newsday (NY)


Thirsty and frustrated, a teary Karen Beers called her mother from Logan
Airport in Boston before boarding her flight yesterday to MacArthur Airport
in Ronkonkoma.

"I'm pregnant," the Oneonta resident said, "so not being able to carry water
with me was really difficult."

When her flight landed, she rushed straight to the nearest newsstand for a
bottle of water, unscrewing the cap before she even reached the register.
Rules enacted Thursday that bar passengers nationwide from carrying
beverages, or any other liquids, onto planes initially annoyed and confused
passengers, and restrictions prompted stores to halt the sale of mainstays
like perfume, lotion and liquor. But sales at Long Island News, Paradies
Shops' MacArthur concession, and the company's 500 other airport gift shops
nationwide were normal, Paradies spokeswoman Bobbi Passavanti said Friday.

Duty-free shops "seem to be getting back to some normalcy today," said
Michael Payne, executive director of the International Association of Duty
Free Stores in Washington. He said the policies are still a work in
progress, and that any impact on retail trade "will depend on the length of
these procedures and how they apply them to the duty-free" industry.

After several years of lackluster growth, worldwide duty-free and travel
retail sales reached $27 billion in 2005, said Lois Pasternak, publisher of
the trade publication Travel Markets Insider. She said the United States
accounts for a relatively small portion of that -- about $1.8 billion.
Passavanti and a spokeswoman for Hudson Group, which operates shops
including Hudson News at airports throughout North America, both said they
are cooperating with security directions, posting signs warning customers
that they would have to finish their beverages before boarding. Several
major airlines that offer in-flight, duty-free shopping declined to
speculate about whether onboard sales would get a boost. Still, some
industry watchers said changes to travel routines could spell long-term
trouble.

"Any time there's uncertainty, there's just more delay, there's more
reservation, there's more concern, there's less buying," said Brit Beemer,
chairman and founder of the consumer behavior research firm America's
Research group.he said. Stores like The Body Shop are especially vulnerable,
he added.

Sharon Weiner, a spokeswoman for Kennedy Airport's duty-free operator DFS
Group, said new Transportation Security Administration requirements that
merchandise be delivered after travelers pass the gate aren't much different
from the system already in place in the U.S.

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