Books and stationery retailer, WH Smith, has opened four concept stores at Sydney Airport, completing the first phase of its store openings at the T1 International terminal this month.

WH Smith has now opened four stores, including a 450sqm landside Departures store and three airside stores totalling over 1,000sqm of retail space, having won the tender in 2015 to operate six NBC (News, Books and Convenience) stores. The stores feature the company’s new format, to be rolled out across its 1300 stores globally.

“We are delighted to successfully open the first four stores and to receive such positive feedback from our customers and passengers,” said WH Smith Australia CEO, Paul Yardley. “We have worked hard to create an enjoyable shopping experience featuring global brands, as well a high standard of design, to match those used by luxury brands in airports around the world.”

Yardley confirmed that the remaining new concept stores were expected to be completed and open for trade by September 2016.

The new, larger format stores within T1 feature ‘store-in-store’ concepts from brands Lego and Lonely Planet. ‘Flight 001’, a luggage concept store from New York, is located adjacent to the main landside store and features an aeroplane cockpit design, offering items including travel bags and suitcases.

“This is a real evolution from the traditional ‘books and news’ operations and introduces a reinvigorated range of must-have travel product essentials, that make every journey easier in a convenient one-stop shop,” said Sydney Airport’s general manager retail, Glyn Williams.

WH Smith joins luxury retailers, Tiffany, Kate Spade and Michael Kors, as part of the revamped T1 terminal.

Want more Inside Retail? Subscribe to Inside Retail Weekly now and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.