Posted Oct 26, 2007, 11:52 PM
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ʇɥƃıuʞ -*ʞpʇ*-
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: lynn lake
Posts: 25,867
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Retail to take off at city airport's new terminal
Twice as many stores planned
Thu Oct 25 2007
By Murray McNeill
A whack of new retailers will be landing at Winnipeg's international airport when the doors to its new air terminal building open in 2010.
A Winnipeg Airports Authority spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday there'll be room for 30 stores, restaurants and service operators in the new 549,000-square foot terminal building at Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.
That's twice as many as in the existing terminal, which means there'll be a whole bunch of new faces.
"We want to have a distinct Manitoba flavour, as well as a national and international flavour," Christine Alongi, the WAA's manager of media relations, said in an interview. "We're a first door into the community... and we want to be representative of the community we live in."
She said it's too soon to say how many of the 30 retail spots will go to local firms, or what the exact mix of restaurant/store/service outlet will be. That will depend on the kind of proposals the WAA receives when it publishes its request for proposals around the middle of next month.
To prime the local pump, the WAA is hosting an informational meeting on Nov. 2 at the Fort Garry Hotel for retailers, restaurateurs and service providers. Floor plans for the 206,238 square feet of retail space will be on display and WAA officials will explain what the business opportunities are for retailers and what will be expected of them if their proposal is accepted.
"It's an opportunity to... let them know about the operation of an airport and how it's different -- it's 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Alongi said.
Salisbury House of Canada Ltd. is one local restaurant chain that would love to have an outlet in the new air terminal building.
"Absolutely," Earl Barish, the company's president and chief executive officer, said. "We would definitely like to have a presence there."
Barish said Sals officials have already made that desire known to the WAA. Their preference would be to have a full-service restaurant there, but they'd also settle for something smaller if they had to.
He noted the chain has had a cafeteria-styled restaurant in the downtown bus depot for more than six decades, so having one at the airport would be a natural progression for the company.
Alongi said she also expects some of the retailers in the existing terminal to bid for space in the new one. One of them will be Brad Hewlett, owner of the Showcase Manitoba clothing and gift shop on the second floor.
Hewlett said the gift shop, which carries products from more than 40 local artists and suppliers, does a brisk business. And it would likely do even better in the new terminal..
His store is 1,200 square feet in size, and Hewlett said he'd likely want to go bigger in the new terminal. "But not a lot bigger. Maybe 300 for 400 square feet more."
Alongi said about 70 per cent of the new retail outlets will be located in the departure, or post-security area, of the new terminal and accessible to only passengers and airport employees. The remaining 30 per cent will be in the public areas and accessible to everyone.
That's the opposite of how it is now, where only four of the 15 retail outlets are in the departure area.
The new approach reflects the new security rules. Passengers arrive earlier and spend more time in the departure area than they used to, Alongi said. Because they're not allowed to take food or beverages through the security gates, they want to buy those items after they go through security.
"They want to get in, go through security, and then relax," she said. "So we want to ensure all of these conveniences are available to them in the departure area."
Terminal building
loaded with features
IN addition to doubling the number of retail and restaurant outlets at Richardson International Airport, WAA spokeswoman Christine Alongi says the airport will offer a broader selection of vending machines and products in the new terminal building, and may make golf carts available to passengers who have mobility difficulties.
The new terminal will also feature:
* wider passenger corridors, and larger boarding lounges and lobby areas;
* more seating and queuing space;
* a more efficient baggage handling system;
* a common passenger processing area that will be used by all passengers, regardless of which airline they're flying on. There, they can either be served in person or check in electronically via a kiosk or the Internet;
* a central pre-boarding screening area where all travellers, both domestic and international, will go through security checks. At the existing terminal, international travellers go through screening on the main floor, while domestic travellers are processed on the second floor; * two more "loading bridges," or departure gates, than the existing terminal -- 11 in total -- and seven ground-loading points. And they'll all be located on the ground level.
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