Following the signing of a new contract with Perth Airport in July 2018, Dufry has opened its fully refurbished duty free walk-through store, which is located in the international flights’ departures hall.  The new store delivers a dynamic and engaging retail space and, alongside Dufry’s Melbourne and Hong Kong MTR operations, further consolidates the company’s presence in the country and the wider Asia Pacific region.

The 1,200m² store incorporates a stronger focus on digital execution and offers customers a wide range of products from some of the most renowned brands in the world across the core categories including beauty, liquor, confectionery and fashion accessories.  A host of exciting new brands have been introduced including La Mer, Kiehl’s, Too Faced, Bobbi Brown, Sisley, Tom Ford and Jo Malone London.

There is also a strong implementation of sense of place across the store, which includes a new concept unique to the airport - a ‘Perth Street Market’.  This area invites travellers to celebrate local Australian food, homewares, gifts and wine, providing the ultimate opportunity to taste and discover the fine flavours of Western Australia. The range of homeware and gifts are created by local artisans and feature a number of high-quality handmade products in the form of ceramics, woodwork, cushions and prints to adorn the home, alongside homemade soaps and natural skincare.  The store’s promotional areas have also been designed to resemble the endemic Boab tree.

Commenting on the opening, Andrea Belardini, Dufry’s Divisional CEO for Asia Pacific & Middle East, said: “the new Perth Airport shops showcase our commitment to grow Asia Pacific and in particular Australia. It is great to return to expanding our presence in the country, where we hold a deep-rooted experience. The new shop is a result of a close cooperation with Perth Airport management in setting a common vision for a shop development with a consumer-centric approach. We would like to thank Perth Airport and its commercially-driven management team for their trust on us and we look forward to working in close partnership to delight customers and deliver growth.”

Perth Airport CEO Kevin Brown has welcomed the announcement. “This investment has completely changed the face of the duty free offering and delivered a world-class retail experience for travellers,” Mr Brown said. “The Perth Street Market will showcase the finest local products from Western Australian producers. It’s fantastic that Dufry, a huge international player in duty free, recognise the value of introducing this unique local touch in what is a major investment in our airport and our State. Working with Dufry to make this a reality has given us a great opportunity to further build the Perth brand among international travellers. Our aim is to give them a great travel experience – a warm first welcome to Perth and a fond farewell with something that will remind them of their stay and hopefully bring them and their family and friends back.”

Perth Airport is the main gateway to Western Australia and is its doorstep to Asia. Perth Airport is the fourth busiest airport in the country in terms of passenger traffic and welcomed more than 4.3 million international travellers in 2018, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the year. Recent development includes Perth to London service, the country’s first direct service to the United Kingdom with further work continuing on attracting direct flights from major centres in China, Japan and India to complement the existing strong travel links with Indonesia, UK, Singapore, and New Zealand.