WHSmith Expands Retail Empire at North American Airports

If you’re walking past the retail shops in the terminal of a major airport in North America, you’re likely to stroll by several shops that are owned by WHSmith, the U.K.-based retail giant that specializes in airport stores.

After you walk past WHSmith, the familiar, ubiquitous shop that sells books, magazines, newspapers and assorted sundries, you also may encounter an InMotion store, a WHSmith subsidiary that is the largest seller of electronics, including Bose headphones, at U.S. airports.

Want some Doritos? That shop next to Gate 21 with an enticing wall full of them is part of Marshall Retail Group (MRG), a rapidly growing WHSmith unit.

WHSmith’s empire is getting larger. The retailer is on track to open more than 50 new stores this year at North American airports, where the company sees passenger volumes increasing and strong demand for its travel essentials categories, according to a report in Chain Store Age.

“The growth opportunities in North America are substantial and there is a good pipeline of tenders,” said Carl Cowling, a WHSmith group CEO, in a statement. “We have a strong airport store opening program in the year with a majority of these stores due to open in the second half [of 2024].”

WHSmith, which has more than 1,700 stores, plans to increase its global portfolio of airport stores with 110 new outlets this year.

MRG’s airport and resort business now represents about 50% of the revenue from WHSmith’s North American division. U.S. travel retailer MRG, which was acquired by WHSmith in 2019, now has more than 300 stores.

MRG, which according to its website is the leading U.S. specialty retailer in the airport and casino- resort marketplace, has more than half of its outlets operating inside 46 airports nationwide.

MRG prides itself on creating unique experiences for customers by developing distinctive retail store concepts that feature and highlight the local culture, community and lifestyle of the cities in which they are located.

In 2018, WHSmith acquired InMotion, now the largest airport-based electronics retailer in the U.S. InMotion now has 120 stores, which operate under the brands InMotion, Soundbalance, Headphone Hub, and iStore (Minneapolis).