The Hudson Group, in a joint venture with United Concessions Group Inc. and English Concessions, both local ACDBE operators, has been awarded a contract to provide all retail concessions services at Cleveland Hopkins International (CLE).
BAA Cleveland, the newly appointed master developer of retail and food and beverage concessions at CLE, says the seven-year agreement will feature 10 stores and became effective June 1. Hudson gained access to the previous operator’s stores May 31 and had them open to customers the next day.
“The Hudson team made the transition look easy. All the stores were open for business first thing Sunday morning without a hitch,” says Mark Knight, president of BAA USA. “Existing inventory, new merchandise, IT systems, phone lines, cash registers and signage had all been carefully staged beforehand and set up overnight, so the stores were ready to begin serving customers at 5:00 a.m.”
Hudson Group President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph DiDomizio says he was impressed by how quickly and accurately Hudson was able to turn the stores around.
“Performance at this level is a capability that sets Hudson apart from other operators,” he says. “I deeply appreciate the experience and can-do attitude of our operations team, working closely with our terrific business partners, the airport and BAA.”
The JV will invest more than $6M to refurbish the stores – seven Hudson News newsstands, a Discover Cleveland gift store, a Hudson Booksellers bookstore and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame store. Once the construction is complete, there will be nine Hudson News newsstands, some of which will include Discover Cleveland and Hudson Bookseller sections, and a redesigned Rock and Roll Hall of Fame store.
