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Food and gift retailer Fortnum & Mason will launch its first standalone airport store and bar at Heathrow Terminal 5 this autumn.
Doors open to the 1,000sq ft outlet, which will carry an edit of products from Fortnum’s flagship Piccadilly store in London, on October 31. The focus of the assortment will be on food gifting such as Fortnum’s famous hampers, as well as a range of its most popular teas and preserves (including jams, marmalades and honeys) and confectionery items. There will also be a savoury counter offering a selection of chilled products, including smoked salmon and caviar. The bar will follow in December. Charcuterie plates, hams, caviars and smoked salmon will all feature here, alongside an extensive collection of the champagnes, wines and sherries.
Commenting on the impending opening, Fornum & Mason chief executive Ewan Venters said: “Heathrow is the UK’s hub airport and the first impression of the country for more than 35 million passengers a year. At Fortnum we have three centuries’ experience of serving customers travelling the globe, so it’s fitting that we should now serve passengers flying to some of the world’s most glamorous locations, including the likes of New York, Hong Kong and Istanbul, and of course, Dubai.”
Heathrow retail director Max Vialou-Clark added: “Fortnum & Mason is a world-famous establishment and the perfect fit for Heathrow. Its fantastic range of gifts and hospitality services are in a league of their own and we’re proud that they’ll both be available to our customers.”
The move to Heathrow follows a confident performance from the retailer last year, with a 10% rise in sales to £65m in the 12 months to July 2013, and pre-tax profits of £1.8m: a five-fold increase on the previous year.
It also marks another milestone in Fortnum Mason’s development programme, following two branch openings over the past year. In November 2013 Fortnum & Mason opened its first new store in 307 years at London’s St Pancras International Station, and in March it unveiled its first standalone store outside the UK in Dubai.
