Gebr. Heinemann celebrates 50th anniversary at Frankfurt Airport
Gebr. Heinemann Duty free Shop opened with Franfurt's Terminal 1 on March 14, 1972
Gebr. Heinemann celebrated its 50th anniversary at Frankfurt Airport this week; the duty free shop opened on 14 March 1972 along with Terminal 1. The family-owned business continues to operate at the airport, now with over 30 shops and a total sales area of around 12,000 square metres.
As of 2017, the relationship between the retailer and the airport solidified even further with the creation of the joint enterprise Frankfurt Airport Retail (FAR) in 2017. This joint venture successfully operates all Duty Free & Travel Value Shops at the airport as well as luxury boutiques and premium brand shops.
Gebr. Heinemann and airport operator Fraport have successfully operated all retail in the airport together as a joint venture since 2017
While the first Gebr. Heinemann store may have opened at the airport 50 years ago, the relationship between the Hamburg-based Travel Retailer and Frankfurt Airport began in 1958 when the first Duty Freecounter at a German airport opened in Frankfurt — operated by the state with goods supplied by Gebr.Heinemann.
“With the establishment of the joint venture, we have intensified our long-standing business relationship andraised it to a new level,” explains Karl-Heinz Dietrich, Head of Retail and Rental Management at Fraport AG.“This allows us to react optimally to developments in the Travel Retail market and to offer our customers theoptimum brand mix.”
“We are very proud of the long-standing and trusting cooperation with Frankfurt Airport, it is the basis of our joint success. The airport is one of the first locations where we made the leap from wholesaler to airportretailer. It is wonderful to see how the business has developed here in Frankfurt over five decades: From smallshops with service counters to walk-through self-service shops to luxury brand boutiques or innovativeconcepts like our “Beauty Store”. Both the airport and our employees here on site in Frankfurt have alwaysoffered us outstanding support along the way,” says Claus Heinemann, co-owner of Gebr. Heinemann.
