Sept 2: India Retails & Hospitality Private Limited (IRHPL), a leading name in India’s airport retail and hospitality industry, today announced the launch of 16 stores in its first week of operations at Bhogapuram International Airport — officially Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport — the gateway serving Visakhapatnam and North Andhra Pradesh. Two more partner brand stores are set to follow in the coming week. The rollout is also another step in IRHPL’s journey towards its 100th store nationally, with the count now at 96.
Bhogapuram International Airport was developed by GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Limited (GVIAL) to serve the Visakhapatnam metropolitan region, replacing the city’s existing civil-enclave airport. Built to handle 6 million passengers a year in its first phase, with room to scale up in later phases, the airport has a 3,800-metre runway, a dedicated cargo terminal bring a sharp rise in passenger traffic, tourism and business travel to the region, one of the reasons IRHPL moved in early and at scale.
At this airport, IRHPL has done something that most airport retail operators talk about but rarely execute well: it has curated a retail journey rather than simply filled a concourse. The portfolio runs on two tracks that are designed to work together. The first is built around IRHPL’s own concept brands, each created for a specific kind of traveller need. Artport brings handmade art, jewellery and home décor; Sthanika (Newest own concept brand) celebrates the rich craft heritage of Andhra Pradesh through textiles, traditional handicrafts, food, art and artisan-made products; four Neo Travel outlets cover travel essentials; Mishthaan offers Indian sweets; Lumière carries luxury eyewear; The Olfactive focuses on fragrances; and Toycraft serves younger travellers with toys and games. The second track brings in established partner brands, including W, Da Milano, Accessorize London, Sarvani Sweets, Bombay Shaving Company, Cookieman, Lavie and Almond House, spanning fashion, accessories, grooming and confectionery. Together, the two tracks create something a single-brand or single-category retail approach cannot: a layered, varied experience where a traveller moving through the terminal encounters something genuinely different at each point. That is the philosophy behind IRHPL’s retail model, and Bhogapuram is one of its clearest expressions.
“As pioneers in Indian travel retail, we have always believed that a great airport retail experience is built through curation, not just presence. At IRHPL, our dual-enginemodel, where our own concept brands sit alongside some of the finest partner brands in the country, is what makes that experience distinctive. Bhogapuram is one of the clearest expressions of that philosophy, and it reflects the standard we hold ourselves to across every terminal we operate in,” said Naresh Sharma, CEO, IRHPL Group of Companies.
The Bhogapuram launch underscores IRHPL’s position as a successful name in the Indian travel retail segment, building its own retail formats in-house while partnering with leading national and international brands to cover a wide range of traveller needs. It also gives the company an early, large-scale foothold in one of India’s fastest-growing airport markets.