Taxco Sterling, one of the many new retailers at Cleveland Hopkins Airport
Photo by Doug Bardwell
Unless you were traveling through Cleveland Hopkins Airport Monday night, you missed the grand opening ceremonies for AIRMALL, a collection of 47 shops, restaurants and specialty services throughout concourses A, B, C & D. These aren’t the tired old shops that were here before 2009.
BAA Cleveland is the new operator of retail services at Cleveland Hopkins Airport and has been working since 2008 to completely redo retail operations in the concourses. Before they even completed the renovations, improvements were so dramatic that Cleveland Hopkins won the Most Improved Airport of the Year Award in 2009 from Airport Councils International.
Most noticeable change for Cleveland travelers will be the new food vendors located where the retailers previously were before – between concourses B and C. As Director of Airports, Ricky D. Smith put it, “we flipped the food courts to the location where most of the passengers are.” This has obviously been a good move, as sales are up 57% in a little more than a year.
A new food court is now located between Concourses B & C Photo by
Doug Bardwell
There are now 47 vendors open and doing business, with another 8 yet to come. Quality merchants are easy to find, including: Crocs, Hudson Booksellers, I-Tech Experience, Bluewire, Johnston & Murphy, Swatch and Taxco Sterling along with the old favorite – Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum Store. AIRMALL has a price guarantee, which assures that shoppers will pay no more at the airport location than they would for the same goods at the local mall. A full list of all vendors are available on the Airmall website.
Food choices are now too numerous to mention, but some of the more notable include: Gordon Biersch, Max and Erma’s, Panini’s, Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen, Cheeseburger Cheeseburger, Great Lakes Brewing, and Currito: Burritos Without Borders. Jack Sabba, a first officer with Pinnacle Airlines (a Delta commuter airline,) flies into Cleveland Hopkins Airport regularly and was enjoying the new food court. “I fly here from Minnesota a couple times a week and really appreciate being able to get good, healthy choices when it’s time to eat,” said Sabba.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson was there to congratulate everyone during the celebration. His wish was for "an airport that would remain competitive no matter what happens in the airline industry." From what we can see already, he’s getting his wish.
In addition to the new vendors, the winners of the just completed CLE Terrazzo Floor Art Project were displaying their winning artwork. Eventually, the entire airport will all be converted to terrazzo floors, making it much easier to wheel your bags to the gates. To bring visual interest to the spaces, Cleveland artists submitted their proposals for custom designs to be converted into terrazzo and placed strategically around the various concourses.
Claire Sullivan with her winning art piece Photo by Doug Bardwell
One of the winning artists, Claire Sullivan, created a piece called “Hooked on Cleveland” which will occupy the floor space right across from gate C1, probably the most traveled spot in the airport. Claire is an independent designer, living and working in Cleveland. Her lively creation depicts Lake Erie with a large walleye attacking an artificial lure. Surrounding the blue lake is a field of green leaves depicting the Cleveland Metroparks with a dozen icons representing Cleveland’s arts, recreation, research, ports, and industries, placed at either end of the piece. Installation of the terrazzo pieces will hopefully begin right after the first of the year.
Director Smith reminded the dignitaries in attendance that Cleveland Hopkins Airport is the first and last impression many people get of Cleveland. Based on all these changes, that impression has certainly improved.
Doug Bardwell, based in Cleveland, OH, writes about interesting new travel and photography topics across the country and around the world. Feel free to drop him a line at travel.dougbardwell@gmail.com with suggestions for future stories. To get his stories delivered to your inbox, click the RSS feed or the "Subscribe" button above.
Comments