L.A. Designers to Be Duty-Free at LAX?
Leading fashion nonprofit Fashion Group International Inc. Los Angeles announced its first-ever business partnership. It will be involved with selecting Los Angeles–area designers who will sell their products at a proposed duty-free shop at Los Angeles International Airport.
On May 14, FGI-LA announced it will work with Shilla-ARI to build a duty-free store at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. Shilla-ARI is a partnership between Korean companies AerRianta International and The Hotel Shilla, a division of Samsung.
FGI-LA and the Shilla-ARI group are scheduled to submit their proposal to the city’s Board of Airport Commissioners later this month. The airport will make a decision later in the summer.
If it gets a green light, the store might open for business in early 2013, said Won Kim, who has served as the regional director of FGI-LA since January. He has served on the FGI-LA board since 2009. He also works as executive vice president for Laguna Beach, Calif.–based business software company AnaTango. Its fashion-industry clients include Los Angeles–based fashion label Voom by Joy Han.
“The FGI-LA mission is to get exposure for new designers,” Kim said. “We’re trying to get international recognition for L.A. designers at LAX.”
Shilla-ARI would build and operate the store and keep the profits, Kim said, and FGI-LA would be responsible for the buying and merchandising of the goods at the duty-free shop. It would regularly rotate design collections and sell accessories and fragrances. If FGI-LA makes any money from the venture, the revenue will be donated to a FGI-LA scholarship fund.
A Shilla-ARI representative pitched the idea to Kim last fall. However, the project picked up momentum in April.
LAX has been working to boost its retail offerings at terminals 4, 5, 7 and 8 with 60 new concessions. Most of the new concessions scheduled to open at the airport this year are restaurants with a Los Angeles history, such as Cole’s and Homegirl Café. However, a few fashion retail shops are scheduled to open. Boutique chain Kitson opened a store in terminal 7 in April, and Kitson founder Fraser Ross said the airport store is doing well.
The Kitson airport store was forecast to earn more than $1,500 per square foot, and it has met its guidance, Ross said. “Traffic is sales,” he noted. “There is nowhere else where you can get greater-concentrated traffic than at an airport.”—Andrew Asch
