Canberra Airport announces new retail partners

Canberra Airport is overhauling its terminal retail offering, with construction set to begin on more than 1000sqm of new shops in the coming months.

On Friday, the airport announced Airport Retail Enterprises (ARE) has been awarded the food and beverage component of the new terminal retail, and Australian Way Pty Ltd (AWPL) has been awarded the news, books and gifting component.

“We are excited about these new partnerships as we work through the last piece in our terminal puzzle,” Richard Snow, head of property at Canberra Airport, said in a statement.

“We have worked for years, focusing on making the travel experience for Canberrans and our visitors as seamless and efficient as possible. Now we are proud to be able to add in more restaurants and café options as well as retail that helps visitors remember their trip with local produce and gifts.”

ARE, which also manages food and drink offerings in Sydney Airport, Melbourne Airport, Brisbane Airport, Gold Coast Airport and Gatwick Airport in the UK, will create a new cafe, City Hill Coffee, featuring locally-roasted Ona coffee, an Asian noodle and sushi offering called Noodles XO and a health food offer on the Western Concourse.

Several existing food and drink options on the Southern Concourse, will be replaced by Capital Brewing Co Bar, through a partnership with the local brewery of the same name. ARE will also add a mixed news, books, travel essentials and cafe space on the ground floor in the arrivals baggage hall.

“Canberra has a fantastic local food scene, and we are very pleased to be partnering with many local producers to bring this to the airport,” John Chapman, CEO of ARE said in a statement.

“The new terminal will become a fantastic showcase of the region’s produce.”

AWPL, which operates stores in numerous domestic and international terminals around Australia and New Zealand, will initially bring a news, books and travel essentials offering called News@CBR to the airport.

Following this, it will open a second store called Merchant Canberra, which will showcase iconic gifts from the city, surrounding region and Australia.

“It is our absolute focus to connect with the local community, deliver a retail offering that brings commercial growth to Canberra Airport, and also significantly enhances the customer experience,” AWPL managing director Costa Kouros said in a statement.

Construction of the new retail offerings is expected to begin in the coming months, with stage one to be finished by the end of this year. The second and final stage is expected to be complete by Easter 2020.