Happy Friday. This is The Shake 🤝: the free weekly newsletter that points our readers in the direction of real estate niches 👉️ 💎 

Here’s what we got this week:

• Travel Retail Is Flying High 🛩️

MARKET RADAR

Travel Retail Is Flying High 🛩️ 

Sometimes I wonder if i’ll ever show up to an airport early for a flight. It seems like I enjoy the anxiety rush of waiting to see how long the security line is at that particular time. 

Or maybe I just know that if I had too much time on my hands in the terminal, I might start looking around… 

Travelers have an average of 56 minutes of free time before their flights and typically spend 25 minutes shopping in duty-free stores, NPD Group estimates.

Now I’m no shopper but the duty-free Travel Retail niche, better known as those snazzy storefronts in international airport terminals, is not your average real estate sector. 

You know those irresistible goodies you grab before your flight? Well, they're like the secret gems of the real estate world. These shops print money while selling to globe-trotting adventurers, and the best part?

No taxes if you take your loot out of the country right away. 🤑 

And foot traffic is only trending upwards with more than 1 billion international travelers passing through airports each year. This number is expected to grow 5% annually. 

Believe it or not, these stores are the economic drivers in the aviation, travel, tourism, and maritime industries. They're the life of the non-aeronautical party at airports all over the globe. 

The blueprint for modern airport terminals recognizes the economic goldmine they are, ensuring that newly developed airports come with spacious, vibrant retail spaces. 

The top three crowd-pleasers in this real estate niche?

Perfumes and cosmetics (30%), wines and spirits (17%), and accessories (15%).

In 2018, these little retail wonders raked in a jaw-dropping $82.42 billion, and they're not stopping there – they're on pace for $126 billion by 2027. This niche is hotter than Miami Beach in July 🏖️ 

But what keeps this business growing? Well, it's all about travelers who just can't resist a shopping spree while on the go. It's retail therapy on the fly…

Even dying brands hold on to their airport real estate with their every last breath. Brookstone, who filed for its second bankruptcy in 2017, closed all of its 101 mall stores but kept its 35 airport stores open. 

Why? Because it’s predictable. Travel retailers have access to top-secret data about where customers are coming from and where they're headed.

It's like they have a crystal ball 🔮 that helps them cater to your every shopping need. And they even organize their staff and products based on your language and cultural quirks – they know you better than you know yourself!

Since travelers account for 40% of global spending on personal luxury goods, large manufacturers see this as a cost-effective path to introduce their new products to the world.

With 12% of these purchased being captured in travel retail locations, it's like a real estate startup playground.

The key 🔑 to all of this: negotiations with airport operators. It's all about location, location, location.

Just like how duty-free shop owners haggle for prime spots at the airport, real estate folks have to charm the right operators to get a slice of the action in their terminals.

The Travel Retail industry is where shopping meets adventure, and the revenue numbers aren’t slowing down.

FIN 🤝 If you enjoyed this week's edition, don’t be selfish — share with a friend!

^{DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.}