Eyewear retailer Iacon steps up airport expansion

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Arizona-based sunglasses retailer Iacon signed an exclusive airport retail licence with HMSHost just over a year ago and the two companies have announced a plan to accelerate the roll out of Iacon stores in US airports. Iacon's growing chain of sunglass speciality stores operate under three separate retail concepts known as Sunglass Designs, Sporting Eyes and Occhiali da Sole.

Until recently the company's stores were located in mall locations throughout the US, primarily in the sunbelt regions, but recently the first two airport outlets opened at Salt Lake City and Charlotte, operated by HMSHost. The Salt Lake City airport store operates under the outdoor lifestyle brand of Sporting Eyes and the Charlotte outlet (pictured) uses the trade name of Sunglass Designs.

HMS Host senior director of speciality retail Brad Siedner told TRW: "We are very excited at both the relationship with Iacon and the category. The great thing about Iacon is that with three distinct concepts it can adapt to any size, shape and passenger profile. For example Occhiali da Sole is suited to airports with a high percentage of international traffic. Sporting Eyes lends itself to cities with an active lifestyle such as Los Angeles."

The next store opening in progress is an Occhiali di Sole at Newark airport and HMSHost said its goal is for at least four to five such openings per year either by bidding for new stores or by utilising the Iacon brands at its existing locations.

"The stores opened so far have perfomed very well," said Siedner. "It is a growing category and eyeglasses today are so much more about fashion. We intend to evaluate all available opportunities with any of the three concepts, creating the right match with an airport."

Last year Iacon published revenues of $15.9m and currently has 43 downtown outlets with plans to open 18 to 20 additional stores this year. The company was bought by eyewear maker Oakley last October and Iacon president Jeff Obstfeld said the new parent has provided funds to help fuel and extend an aggressive expansion plan.