Relay debuts at Heathrow
Lagardère Retail has opened the first RELAY flagship store at London Heathrow Airport (LHR), in Terminal 2, marking the brand's debut in the UK. The new store introduces a travel essentials format at the airport designed for passengers looking for useful products before their flight, food-to-go solutions, pharmacy items and quick purchases in a single space.
The opening is part of Heathrow's announced development plan to renew Terminal 2's travel essentials offering. The project includes a total of four RELAY stores in the airport, for a total area of 1,360 square meters. The first store inaugurated is located on the upper level of departures and anticipates the subsequent openings planned in the terminal.
For travellers, the new RELAY combines different needs in a single shopping experience: snacks and quick meals, travel products, health & beauty items, pharmacy, books, magazines, technology and convenience retail. The aim is to offer a flexible and immediate service, adapted to the times of the airport and the needs of those departing, arriving or transiting through Heathrow.
One of the central elements of the format is the collaboration with Waitrose, which brings a food-to-go proposal dedicated to passengers to airport travel retail. The offer allows you to buy ready-to-eat products before your flight, with a brand recognized in the British market for quality and convenience.
Alongside the food proposal, the new store also integrates the contribution of Paydens Group, with a selection of pharmacy products and useful items for health and well-being on the go. This combination reinforces RELAY's identity as a multifunctional store, capable of responding to different needs in a highly mobile context.
The debut of RELAY at Heathrow represents a significant step for Lagardère Travel Retail in the UK market. The brand is already present in numerous international hubs and now arrives in the UK through one of the busiest and most connected airports in the world.
According to the program defined for Terminal 2, the other RELAY stores will complete the offer with differentiated functions. The store on the lower level of departures will offer books, souvenirs, toys, snacks and drinks to take away; an additional satellite store will include the Discover concept, dedicated to souvenirs and products related to the destination; another RELAY will be opened in the check-in hall, in the landside area.
For Heathrow, the arrival of RELAY helps to make the Terminal 2 shopping experience more complete and modern. The new format aims to intercept the real needs of passengers: quickly buy what they need for the trip, find a practical meal before boarding and access essential products without having to search for multiple separate stores.
The new opening also confirms the evolution of airport travel retail towards hybrid formats, capable of combining convenience, food, services and local or recognizable products. In a large international hub like Heathrow, this formula responds to a heterogeneous audience made up of business Travellers, leisure passengers, families and customers in international transit.
