October 14, 2016
Harper Dennis Hobbs (HDH) has expanded its dedicated travel retail team with the appointment of Simon Black, formerly head of travel retail at Smythson, as a director.
Simon, who has also been head of luxury brands at Heathrow Airport, will work alongside HDH director Martin Morgan advising retailers on their requirements within airports, railway stations, motorway services and cruise ships across the globe.
David Harper CEO of Harper Dennis Hobbs said: “Simon joins us with a great deal of experience and market knowledge. He has developed relationships with many luxury brands helping them to build up their travel retail portfolios and develop new markets and locations. This is a crucial and expanding part of our business and he will be a fantastic asset to the team.”
Spanning a 15-year career, Simon has worked with some of the world’s leading brands. At Smythson he opened new stores at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and Terminal 2 and led the search to relocate the luxury leather goods retailer’s New York store to Madison Avenue.
During his eight years at Heathrow Airport leading the luxury category, he transformed the proposition into a world class offer that is widely regarded as one of the best in global airport retailing.
Simon was instrumental in leasing the luxury category when Terminal 5 first opened in 2008, the new Terminal 2, and most recently the refurbished luxury area at Terminal 5 in 2014. This included a landmark deal with Louis Vuitton to open only their second ever store at an airport.
Prior to his role at Heathrow, he held a number of different roles at BAA from managing the fashion category across all of BAA’s airport portfolio at the time, to retail operational roles at Stansted Airport.
The global scope of HDH is demonstrated by the recent opening of MaxMara in Sydney Airport, new store acquisitions for Joe & the Juice in Sydney and San Francisco Airports, while Moleskine opened recently in Hamburg Airport and Cologne Main train station. In the UK, Swedish bookshop Pocket Shop has taken a store in Birmingham Airport, and Dutch brand Hema is due to open in Euston station following its Stansted Airport opening. HDH is also advising Copenhagen Airport on its future plans.
Simon is contactable on 020 7462 9100. Email: simonblack@hdh.co.uk
