Three retailers have submitted plans to open shops at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, according to reports submitted to County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic.
Taste Inc., d.b.a. Vino Volo, has submitted plans to open a wine shop in a 1,072-square-foot space in Concourse C.
Hudson Group Retail LLC has submitted plans to open shops in a 582-square-foot space in Concourse C and a 558-square-foot space in Concourse D. In those two spaces, Hudson is proposing their “affordable luxuries” store concept, consisting of handbags, wallets, belts, pashminas, jewelry, watches, gloves, hats, socks, sunglasses and travel comfort items. Most of the products sell for less than $15, with some high-quality accessories selling from $25 to above $100.
InMotion Entertainment Group LLC has submitted plans to open a 86-square-foot kiosk store in Concourse D selling headphones and other electronic entertainment accessories.
These stores would fill a total of 2,298 square feet of space four of the airport’s seven vacant retail spaces, which have a total of 4,390 square feet of vacant retail space.
The leases are subject to approval by the County Board.
Traffic at the airport, which plunged after Frontier Airlines eliminated its Milwaukee hub and Souuthwest Airlines acquired AirTran, has increased this year. For six consecutive months the airport has posted year-over-year traffic increases. Year-to-date traffic at Mitchell is up 2.7 percent this year, but traffic levels are still well below their 2010 peak at the airport.
“This year’s sustained passenger growth shows that demand is increasing for air travel at Mitchell, and we continue to serve as an outstanding alternative to O’Hare in northern Illinois,” said County Executive Chris Abele.
Southwest recently announced increase service on its routes from Milwaukee to New Orleans and Ft. Lauderdale and Frontier announced new non-stop service from Milwaukee to Orlando and Ft. Myers, Fla.
In other airport real estate news, the owner of Doctari Longlines LLP wants to lease a 3,700-square-foot storage building in Milwaukee County’s MKE Regional Business Park at the airport. The company produces and sells hunting equipment, primarily waterfowl decoy rigs. ACC Holding Inc., a cargo airline, wants to lease a 3,000-square-foot storage building at the MKE Regional Business Park at the airport.
