London Heathrow Airport became the first travel-retail location in Europe to officially open a standalone Maison Christian Dior store yesterday, selling the house’s most prestigious fragrance collection.
The 22 scents have been personally curated by Dior’s in-house perfumer François Demachy, who was present to showcase the latest addition: Rose Kabuki, inspired by Japanese Kabuki theater.
The store, soft-opened two weeks ago, is part of a new retail space carved out of an area backing onto the Dufry-owned World Duty Free travel-retail store in Terminal 5, the home of British Airways. This space—where three new retail units have been added—is highly visible. It faces a high-footfall Starbucks outlet, and a large seating area in the center of the terminal.
The Maison Christian Dior store has been designed as a Parisian apartment with a wooden floor, a digital window that screens video images (currently winter/snow themes) and cream/white walls. The effect is designed to be open and welcoming.
Christian Dior Parfums general manager for Travel Retail Europe, Floriane Pampiglione told BW Confidential: “Heathrow T5—a key terminal at a global hub—is the perfect place to have this full-immersion boutique. We are very happy with sales so far.”