Security measures hit landside shops hard

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Delays and queues at security checkpoints are having a profound effect on spending patterns in US airports, according to operators. As passengers arrive at airports they spot long lines at security and are joining them as quickly as possible, to the exclusion of all other activity.

"The single largest impact on airport retailing post September 11 is the dramatic shift in sales from shops located landside to those located airside because of the way travellers are moving through the airport," said Dick Dickson, president of US airport retailer The Paradies Shops.

He said the worst spot for a store is where the security queue passes in front because people won't leave their place in the queue to make a purchase. This phenomenon is being reflected in store sales. For example at Portland airport, in a Paradies store located in the airport's landside shopping mall, sales are down 26%. The store had expanded this year and has a better location than it had last year. However, on airside the company's four stores are generating sales that are 35% above last year, said Dickson.

At Phoenix, the sales ratio of landside to airside stores is typically 60/40. Now, the ratio has shifted to 30/70. "The difficulty is that the airside stores are about one-third the size and cannot carry a wide assortment or handle all the traffic," said Dickson.

At Albany where all of Paradies' shops are located airside, sales are up 30%. "All people want to do when they arrive at the airport is get through security. Since they're arriving earlier, they have more time to spend  after security and that has really turned things around."

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