Sales Lifting Spirits of Airport Retailers

After quickly passing through the security checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport, passenger Mary Aleo found herself with loads of time on her hands. So she dropped by Polished, a new airport boutique that caters to women who want to look their best when they board their planes.

By the time she was done, Aleo, 44, had spent $200 on a massage, manicure, skin care products and a touch-up to her makeup. She enjoyed the pampering so much that she has visited the boutique three times since that trip.

Thanks to customers like Aleo, business at Polished is running 20% ahead of projections, owner Kristin Rhyne said. The company, which also has a location at Boston’s Logan International Airport, expects to add three airport boutiques by the end of the year.

Rhyne is not alone in her success. From fast food to fine dining, oxygen bars to health clubs, airport businesses are staging a remarkable comeback just 10 months after laying off thousands of workers in the post-Sept. 11 travel industry slump that followed the terrorist attacks. Today, many of them are rehiring employees and experiencing a sharp rebound in sales, even though the number of passengers nationwide remains down by about 11% .

“If you had asked me on Sept. 12 if I’d thought we’d ever be where we are today, I would have said no way,” said William C. Anton, founder of Anton Airfood Inc., a Washington-based operator of 124 restaurants in 20 airports, including 23 opened since the terrorist attacks.

At John Wayne Airport in Orange County, sales at two McDonald’s restaurants are up 10% compared with last year, after having fallen by 60% in the weeks after the attacks, owner Isabelle Villasenor said.

At Los Angeles International Airport, passengers are snapping up trendy $265 Oakley sunglasses at LA Edge, a “very Melrose Avenue and Fred Segal” boutique that opened in late March, general manager Crystal Bloom said.

Several factors are driving the turnaround. Travelers arriving early because of increased security measures are finding themselves with long waits for their flights and little to do but shop. The typical passenger now has close to an hour and a half of “I don’t know what to do with myself time,” said Ira Weinstein, president of Airport Interviewing and Research in White Plains, N.Y.

Cutbacks in airline food service have led more people to grab a bite before flying, said Deborah Meehan, president of SH&E;, an aviation consulting group in Boston. And instead of going for fast food, many travelers are dining at table-service restaurants such as Legal Sea Foods.

Airport retailing also has matured, said Pauline Armbrust, editor of Airport Retail News. Upscale outfits such as Brooks Bros. and Johnson & Murphy now line concourses, giving passengers lots of shopping choices.

Not all airports and businesses are seeing a comeback. At LAX, for instance, concessions sales were off 11% in May compared with a year earlier. And shops in front of security checkpoints have suffered because passengers worried about long waits now speed by them to get into line.

Still, the trends are heartening, experts said.

HMSHost Corp., one of the largest operator of airport restaurants and stores, reported that North American airport sales increased 2% in the first three months this year, compared with a year earlier. Atlanta-based Paradies Shops, a closely held firm that operates 300 shops at 59 airports, said sales at stores open at least a year, a key industry measure, are up nearly 10%.

Respite From Stress

With flying more nerve-racking than ever for many travelers, businesses that knead the knots out of people’s necks, give them a place to sweat out the stress or pour them a stiff drink are flourishing. Although spas and bars are not new for airports, sales have surged in the stressful post-Sept. 11 world.

“People are worried about waiting in long lines, being abused as they go through security, and then there’s the anxiety of getting on an airplane and sitting in the middle seat for a five-hour flight,” said Michael Boyd of the Boyd Group, an aviation consulting company in Evergreen, Colo. “Of course they want a massage or drink.”

Such is the case with Shaleka Lewis. This summer, the Palm Springs secretary found herself stuck at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. With her return flight to Los Angeles delayed, she grew edgy. Then Lewis stumbled upon Massage Bar, where she saw licensed therapists administering rubdowns in the middle of the concourse. Lewis, who rarely buys more than a cup of coffee or a small meal at an airport, decided to shell out $35 for a 30-minute session, plus a $5 tip.

She’s glad she did. The massage did the trick, clearing her mind and relaxing her body. “When I’ve flown in the past, I’d have a couple of vodkas to calm down,” said Lewis, 27, just before boarding her plane. “Now, I don’t need them.”

Massage Bar, which offers seated massages at Seattle-Tacoma and Nashville International airports, is on track to posting revenue of $1.3 million this year, up 30% from 2001, owner Cary Cruea said. Business is so brisk at its Nashville location that the store extended its operations to 12 hours a day from eight. Cruea said she’s in talks with five airports about opening shops.

The massage therapists also have benefited from all the new business. Diane Messick said tips have shot up because grateful customers are opening their wallets as never before. “When they get out of the chair, they say, ‘Thank you. Will you come home with me? Will you marry me?’ ” Messick said with a laugh.

Soothing Treatments

And massages might be a good preventive for air rage, said Kathryn Gift, an Alaska Airlines flight attendant based in Seattle. Gift, who visits Massage Bar about once a month, said passengers who get the kinks rubbed out before boarding are among the most relaxed on her flights.

Halfway across the country at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, passengers ease themselves into comfy leather chairs, put plastic tubing into their nostrils and inhale a mixture of essential oils and 99% pure oxygen at OraOxygen, a spa that opened in March.

OraOxygen, which also offers massages, manicures and pedicures, is the brainchild of Suzanne Letourneau, who opened the first location at Canada’s Calgary International Airport in February 2000. A former flight attendant and personal trainer, Letourneau said people who get a boost of oxygen before flying are less likely to experience the nausea, dehydration and fatigue associated with breathing recirculated air on long plane trips.

Beware. A full-body massage at OraOxygen can have a dangerously mellowing effect. A man once missed his flight because he lost track of time. Now staff members ask customers when their planes leave and let them know whether they’re cutting it too close.

For travelers looking for something less New Age, McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas features a 24 Hour Fitness center where people can sweat out their stress. The gym, which has an exercise room decorated like a runway, including white lines and blue runway lights, opened two years ago to an underwhelming response. But since the terrorist attacks, business has taken off, general manager James Coty said.

Student Mike Johnson recently stopped in before his flight to Minneapolis. The 21-year-old business major used a treadmill for half an hour, worked out with free weights and other equipment, showered, took a sauna and then unwound with a 45-minute massage. For the teetotaler Johnson, pumping iron “tires me out so I can fall asleep and not have to worry about anything, like crashing.”

Only a few airports have beauty salons, spas and health clubs, but most have bars. Not surprisingly, many travelers are turning to an old standby, the bottle, to relieve tension and stave off boredom.

Just ask Lou Mazza. The general manager of Fat Tuesday’s at Pittsburgh International said business has never been better. Sales at the daiquiri bar are up 10% to 15%, and Fat Tuesday’s just added desserts to its menu to boost the average check.

But as good as the cheesecake and sandwiches are, passengers aren’t going there for the food.

“People want to take the edge off,” Mazza said.

Barring new attacks, passenger counts should return to pre-attack levels, giving a further boost to concessions operators, said O.B. Schooley, an aviation consultant with SI Partners Inc. in Mission Viejo. Airport restaurants and retailers also should benefit from additional security measures that are likely to increase passenger waiting times, he said.

Travelers’ penchant for feasting and retail therapy has buoyed the bottom line of many airport concessions operators. And when those diversions aren’t enough, people are increasingly turning to religion.

At John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, attendance has been up significantly at the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and nondenominational chapels--prompting them to extend their hours.

Rabbi Paul Hait, interim chaplain at JFK’s International Synagogue, said travelers, even non-Jews from countries such as Japan and Ghana, are dropping by for spiritual sustenance.