JR/Duty Free opens its doors at BNE International

James Richardson Pty Ltd, trading as JR/Duty Free, has opened its doors for the first day of trading in its newly redeveloped walk-through stores at Brisbane Airport’s (BNE) International Terminal. 

Having recently signed a seven year contract to operate the duty free concession at BNE, JR/Duty Free stores occupy 1600 sq. m in the Departures Zone and 800 sq. m in Arrivals, offering an improved and premium duty free shopping experience.

In December, a 143 sq. m JR/Watch Co. boutique store offering a large range of competitively priced luxury watches will join the JR/Duty Free family at BNE. 

Since the selection of JR/Duty Free by Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC), both partners have worked closely to bring about their combined vision of a world-class duty free shopping precinct.

BAC’s General Manager Airline and Retail Management, Andrew Brodie, said, “We’re excited to have JR/Duty Free on board as we move towards creating a truly premium offering and memorable, world class and uniquely Brisbane, Queensland experience for travellers at Brisbane Airport.

“JR/Duty Free has an incredibly strong track record of delivering high quality Duty Free concessions at airports around the globe, and it only seems fitting that this premium shopping experience contributes to our premium redevelopment of the International Terminal,” Mr Brodie said.

Milton Lasnitzki, JR/Duty Free CEO, said, "We are very excited to be the duty free operator at Brisbane Airport from 1 September. For us this is déjà vu since it was at Brisbane Airport in 1972, under the leadership of our founder, the late Mr David Mandie AM, OBE, (universally recognised as the pioneer of duty free in Australia), that the James Richardson Group duty free business commenced.  He would have been thrilled to see that we are once again back to where it all began 42 years ago.”

The changeover from the previous concessionaire took place overnight, with the very first customers of the day being offered complimentary champagne in celebration of the opening.

The new Duty Free stores are the cornerstone of BNE’s $45 million International Terminal redevelopment which is well on track for completion by July 2015.