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DFS Group has been in the vanguard of the multi-million dollar makeovers sweeping through North American airports’ travel retail venues this past year. The premier luxury travel retailer is investing $50 million to upgrade its North American airport stores in Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO) and Terminal 4 at New York’s JFK International. This week, TMI is focusing on the stunning new retail offer that DFS unveiled in the Main Hall of JFK Terminal 4 on August 30. Story on page 1.
South American Duty Free Association ASUTIL has announced that the 2014 Conference will take place in Mexico City, from June 4-7. More details Inside Insider.
ASUTIL also announced this week that it is organizing a conference on the duty free border business in cooperation with the Uruguayan Chamber of Free Shops. John Gallagher discusses the agenda with ASUTIL Secretary-General Jose Luis Donagaray and Carlos Loaiza, secretary of the Uruguayan Chamber. The Conference will take place in Rivera, Uruguay, in November. See the full story on page 2.
Grupo Wisa is one of the international companies that has expanded to the Uruguayan border, and last month opened its first La Riviera Duty Free store in Rivera. To coincide with its excursion into the Southern Cone, the Panama-based retailer has also unveiled a new corporate branding concept, and opened the first of six luxury boutiques for a major international fashion brand. Details on page 2.
The annual industry networking meeting of Women in Travel (WiT) will take place in Cannes during the Tax Free World Exhibition on Tuesday afternoon, where women in the industry get to mingle, meet old and new friends, and help raise money for a very worthy cause. This year, WiT is working with Hong Kong-based NGO A Drop of Life, to raise funds to bring water to remote communities in northern China, where water is a precious commodity. Read all about it and please make a donation, whether or not you will be attending the meeting. Read how on page 3.
