Aug 2, 2011

The Airport Experience Now Includes Shopping for the FamilyBy Stephanie CliffordNYTimes.com

After visits to malls plummeted during the recession — and have yet to bounce back — many mass-market retailers stepped up their search for other locations to lure shoppers.

Places where people might be bored. And unable to leave. One time-tested answer: airports.

While luxury stores set up shops in airports long ago to attract duty-free international shoppers, retailing in many domestic terminals was limited to newsstands and the occasional shop selling coffee mugs and local smoked meat. The real diversity in airport shopping was in the food concessions.

No more.

“Airports are becoming, really, a service facility, like a shopping mall,” said Jose Gomez, senior vice president for business development for Mango, the fashion retailer.

While clothing and specialty luggage and electronics stores aimed at male shoppers — like Johnston & Murphy, Brooks Brothers and Brookstone — have been fixtures at airports, the new wave of stores moves beyond the businessman traveler to include teenagers, women and bargain shoppers.

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