Page 20 - Travel Markets Insider October 2021 Final

INSIDER

In 2014, IS opened its first shop in Dulles
International Airport, partnering with Estée
Lauder in an 1,800 sq. ft. multi-branded
boutique featuring the Estée Lauder, Clinique, Jo
Malone, MAC, and La Mer brands.

fragrance back wall. Two and a half years we were able to have a proper go at it. We of design, architecture, and building. But
ago, the company opened a MAC store had learned a lot during the Detroit bid, I think that is what separates us from
in Baltimore-Washington International which gave us the opportunity to eventually others. We really tailor the store that we are
airport. become the winner in the Houston bid,” developing to every particular location and
said Scott. customer that we are servicing. And that is
Moving off I-95 “We brought a team out of Boston and really what we are about. We don’t have a
IS started to look further afield for JFK down to Houston. For the first two one size fits all.”
new endeavors. But Michael Halpern months we had at least one person from This philosophy always boils down to
recalls that Fred had also warned him to not either New York or Boston at the stores creating a customer first experience.
bite off more than they could chew. for every shift. We needed to bring on that “I think our team’s mindset of turning
“We looked at Chicago when the RFP International Shoppes mentality,” added a browser into a shopper is tremendous.
was coming up, but I realized that we could Matt. Our management team, from the office to
not have done it at the time,” he said. the stores and the sales force that we have,
“The first time we tried to get off the Customer service and the International do a tremendous job of discovering the
I-95 Corridor, 300 miles north or south of Shoppes way consumer and finding out what they are
us, was Detroit Airport. We bid on that and “We use the word bespoke to describe looking for,” Matt continued.
unfortunately we fell short. But, when the our stores because we don’t have one “Good is not good enough. How do
opportunity came for Houston in 2019, we solution for all of our locations. We have we get to great? How do we get to superb?”
had done so much work on how to build a new solution every time,” explained added Scott.
an operation outside of our wheelhouse, Matt. “We probably overspend in terms “It is customer first, but we are
running the shops at the pleasure of the
respective landlords. We always look at
everything through those lenses and make
sure we are doing everything in our power
to run a great business. Because we know
there are other operators out there and
landlords have options. We want them to
know there is something special when they
select International Shoppes. I think we
have done a really good job over the years
of becoming more of a bespoke operator.
That’s what new airports and our airports
see when they consider International
Shoppes,” said Matt.
Michael Halpern summed it up: “IS
has this saying—‘we want the customer
to feel happier when they leave the store
than when they walked in.’ That is what we
Matt Greenbaum and Scott Halpern in front of their first venture off the want to do.”
I-95 Corridor at Houston Intercontinental Airport in September 2019.

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