Phoenix is on track to welcome TripAdvisor’s first store at a U.S. airport. During a recent city meeting, the Aviation Department shared the latest retail plans for Terminal 4.
They call for the travel website TripAdvisor to set up shop in the north concourse. An artist’s rendering shows products like neck pillows and toiletries. Company spokesman Brian Hoyt told KJZZ that until the process is complete he can’t say much, other than the TripAdvisor-branded travel essentials store would cover all of a traveler’s needs.
A media report last March said that TripAdvisor would open its first brick-and-mortar location at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in summer 2018, but a spokeswoman with Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport told KJZZ that TripAdvisor would open no later than spring 2018, if the City Council approves. A council vote is expected this month.
Concession Manager Paula Kucharz said the airport also wants to add a drugstore and medical clinic, “This will be the first time we will have a medical clinic available that is not only open to the public but employees as well.”
Plans also include the first Tumi store, a high-end luggage retailer, at Sky Habor and two InMotion stores that sell electronics, the fastest growing category in airport retailing.