Travel retailer Lagardère Travel Retail has reopened some of its stores in the domestic terminals in Australia and New Zealand over the past week.

Lagardère Travel Retail Pacific chief executive Przemyslaw Lesniak said the handful of outlets that they have reopened in the domestic terminals at Auckland, Christchurch, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth were test cases with restricted trading hours.

Whatever learnings they gather during these test openings will be applied to further recovery efforts once airport operations and the number of passengers continue to increase. 

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have stayed positive and strong and focused on providing support to our teams impacted by the store closures,” Lesniak said. “We are so pleased to be able to reopen a handful of our stores in Australia and New Zealand over the past week as test cases.”

The travel retail operator closed all of its stores in the Pacific except one during the COVID-19-related restrictions starting March.  

According to Lagardère Travel Retail, the stores have strict hygiene and safety measures in place to ensure the safety of its staff and customers.

Lesniak said this was a big moment for them and acknowledged the support of the company’s team members, partners and landlords while the company navigates the unprecedented hit to their industry and waits for the right moment to begin their recovery.

“It will take time, but we are continuing to think positively about the future and hope to see passenger numbers continue to increase to allow more stores to reopen soon,” Lesniak said. 

The travel retailer operates a large network of travel retail outlets in the Pacific region, operating food service, travel essentials and duty free outlets in 23 airports across Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia.