Dufry secures Rome Fiumicino contract

Tina Milton

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The Swiss retailer has been appointed to run stores vacated by The Nuance Group at Rome's main gateway

Dufry Group has secured the contract to operate the fine food and fashion concessions at Rome Fiumicino airport, Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) confirmed to DFNI.

The tender, for seven shops totalling 1,050sq m (11,300sq ft) across all terminals, was called after the incumbent retailer The Nuance Group announced plans to withdraw from the location.

AdR confirmed that Dufry will implement a number of new concepts including a Mango shop, a Warner Bros store and bookshop and multimedia outlet Itineris.

Aeroporti di Roma executive vice-president commercial Andrea Belardini said: "We selected Dufry as we valued their flexible approach and their strong knowledge of the Italian market where they hold a leadership position. We have shared with Dufry some changes in the categories offered that will enable us to make a further step towards our customer demand. As a result of these we can expect a quick improvement in the spend per passenger performance. We agreed to not to change the other shops such as Armani and the fine food stores."

AdR shortlisted three companies for the tender last month and DFNI understands that Aldeasa and Alpha Retail were the two other contenders for the contract. Alpha Retail won the contract to operate seven new stores with AdR, one of which is located at Rome Ciampino, in April giving it over 750sq m (8,070sq ft) of retail space dedicated to accessories, jewellery, watches and sunglasses.

AdR plans to adopt a new retail strategy to restructure terminal space and strengthen its management team.