Perform or else, Copenhagen warns retailers

Lorna Strickland

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The landlord is to take a more hands-on role in retailing at Copenhagen Kastrup as it bids to improve revenue

Copenhagen Airports has appointed a new vice-president of commercial affairs, Henrik Busch, as it bids to transform the fortunes of its duty-free business at Copenhagen Kastrup airport, run by The Nuance Group. Speaking at the Nordic Travel Retail Seminar on May 25, former general manager of Danish department store Magasin Du Nord Busch said that the landlord was determined to take a much more hands-on role in commercial affairs at Kastrup.

"Airports should not be landlords but sparring partners," he argued. "We are getting involved in every day of our retailer's operations and we will kick them out if they don't perform because we only have a limited amount of space in which to generate turnover."

He told delegates to the seminar that Copenhagen Airports now inspects shop-floor operations every day. "The retailers now behave in the way we want in every single way," he said.

Following disappointing duty-free and travel-retail sales in recent years, Copenhagen Airports and Nuance has committed to a wholesale revamp of stores at Kastrup. Nuance Europe CEO Carlo Bernasconi told the Global Travel Retail Summit in February: "We are going to change nearly all of our shops there. I hope we'll enjoy success and show the industry there is another way of doing business."