Birmingham to tender duty-free operations

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The contract for both terminals at Birmingham International will be opened for bidding in October

Duty-free operations at Birmingham International Airport will go out to tender in October. The contract for its two terminals, which is currently held by Alpha Retail, is likely to run for five to seven years.

Space at terminal one includes five stores, a 70sq m (754sq ft) books and music outlet, a 120sq m (1,291sq m) children's toy shop, a 90sq m (968sq ft) jewellery store, a 270sq m (2,905sq ft) liquor and tobacco site and a 208sq m (2,238sq ft) fragrance store. Terminal two has a 400sq m (4,304sq ft) main store.

?We are in the process of talking to a number of operators in terms of pre-selection,? said head of market development commercial Ray Savage. ?Historically, the UK has been a bit of a closed shop as the same number of players have dominated its airports. But we are talking to a number of operators not traditionally found in the UK.? Savage said he would like to add new fashionwear lines to the duty-free offer.

The airport will begin the construction of a new commercial departures lounge at T1 in 2005, which will include a 1,100 sq m (1,1836sq ft) duty-free shop. The site will sell most of the traditional duty-free categories and is scheduled to open in February 2006. The lounge will incorporate two other retail stores and a catering development.

?We've been down the route of having individual stores before,? said Savage. ?But since the abolition of duty-free in the EU, we've learnt that having a one-stop shop is a more effective environment.?