Swiss travel retailer Dufry has launched the Hudson Travel Essentials Convenience Bookstore brand with eight outlets at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
The Hudson Travel bookstores are being run by Hudson Bright Power Beijing, a JV between Dufry and bookstore company Bright Power Beijing.
Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport handled more than 44 million passengers last year, and is ranked as the fourth-busiest airport in China behind Beijing Capital International, Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun International airports.
The new Hudson Travel Essentials Convenience Bookstores offer travellers “one-stop shopping with an international ambiance”, says Dufry. As well as magazines and books, the shops offer international snacks and soft drinks, Chinese cultural and destination souvenir items, travel convenience products, and digital and electronics accessories.
Dufry plans to roll out the Hudson brand across China and expand the retail concept globally.
China is poised for significant growth in passenger numbers both at airports and railway stations, says the company.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China says there were about 500 million air passengers in China last year, 13 per cent more than in the previous year.
“With its remarkable number of passengers, Chengdu is the ideal starting point to further grow in China, which is a very attractive market for us,” says Dufry Asia/Middle East/Australia division CEO Andrea Belardini.
“Besides the Hudson convenience stores, we are also able to offer our landlords a complete range of retail formats and solutions, from typical core categories to multi-brand formats such as sunglasses, fashion watches, electronics and leisurewear.”
Bright Power was founded in 2005 as a book-publishing company, and has evolved from book wholesaling to magazine and book retailing. It has bookstores in four out of the 10 major Chinese airports and at six of China’s top 10 high-speed railway stations.
