Pulling retail out of terminal slide

• Date: 23 April 2021
• Published date: 23 April 2021

Tom Bryne, general manager of The Loop Duty Free at Auckland Airport, said trading at the Irish retail chain’s three outlets in the international terminal was off to a good start this week following the bubble opening up on Monday.

While sales so far only accounted for 20-30 per cent of regular earnings, Bryne said it was a far cry from virtually no sales recorded last year.

“It’s been a very dark year for a lot of businesses and a lot of people and we are certainly one of those, so we’re absolutely delighted that the bubble is in operation,” Bryne told the Herald yesterday.

Australian travellers alone were not enough to provide the sales revenue The Loop is used to, he said.

“The transtasman movement between Australians and New Zealanders helps us a lot, but it certainly doesn’t get us out of the woods ... there’s still a big gap there, a lot of work to do before we can say we are in a good place.”

A big chunk of The Loop’s around 150 retail sales staff that typically worked in the international outlets were last year redeployed to its outlets in the domestic terminal and its pop-up in Sylvia Park shopping mall.

It was a happy time for staff to return to the international terminal this week, said Bryne.

As well as Aussie arrivals, outbound Kiwis were also dipping into their pockets this week. This weekend would be the true test to analyse the level of returned spend, he said.

“The first outbound and inbound passengers are looking forward to meeting up with family and friends and ... they have been stopping in duty free either for gifting opportunities or purchasing for themselves.”

Auckland Airport says 8000 transtasman travellers have been through its international terminal in the first three days of the travel bubble. Of this, over 5000 people have visited The Loop sites, Bryne said.

Alcohol had proven to be the hot ticket item this week as Kiwis moved to stock up their at-home liquor cabinets, Bryne told the Herald.

Bryne said The Loop expected its sales to trend upwards in coming weeks as more people jumped between New Zealand and Australia.

“The way we look at it is there is going to be a couple of phases to this bubble. The first phase is those travellers who want to reunite with family and friends. A month out you’ll have business people who are travelling as well and I think the third phase will be the more...