May 14, 2007

Pittsburgh’s Airmall is model for Hopkins’ planBy Susan VinellaCleveland.com

Pittsburgh — On her plane ride from Raleigh, N.C., a 46-year-old advertising executive flipped through a fashion magazine and discovered that gladiator sandals are all the rage.

Minutes after she landed at Pittsburgh International Airport, she had a new pair on her feet.

Natalie Holden bought the trendy sandals at Nine West, an upscale women’s shoe store at the terminal’s Airmall, a short walk from her gate. During regular business trips to Pittsburgh, she also frequents the mall’s Gap for Women clothing store and Victoria’s Secret lingerie shop.

“I do a lot of shopping here because I don’t have a lot of time to shop at home,” Holden said. “It’s convenient.”

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport expects to soon model its terminal after Pittsburgh’s Airmall, which includes 100 retailers and restaurants and boasted the highest sales per passenger of any airport in the country in 2005.

This week, Cleveland officials are expected to invite companies such as the Westfield Group, which manages local shopping centers including Westfield Great Northern mall in North Olmsted and Westfield SouthPark mall in Strongsville, to bid on a 10-year contract to manage the shops and restaurants at Hopkins and to develop new ones.

The contract is expected to boost terminal sales, now at $30 million a year. The airport will split sales revenue with the management company and restaurant and store owners.

Cleveland airport director Ricky Smith said the change from a single operator that owns nearly all of the stores to a management company that owns no stores should foster competition and improve customer service.

“What we need here is an enhancement in our customer service,” Smith said. “It has been proven time and time again that there is no greater factor or influence on customer service than competition.”

The new agreement will end Cleveland’s long relationship with Maryland-based HMSHost, which has owned and operated nearly all of the 47 restaurants, gift shops and stores at Hopkins for decades.

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