TOP 10 OPERATORS 2018 9: DUTY FREE AMERICAS (DFA)
and not just in Brazil. “I think you’re going to see new, bigger and better concepts coming from us. We created that Sunglasses store [in Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana Airport], which we’re looking at replicating; we’re doing Black coffee [Black Barista Coffee World luxury boutique concept], which we’re thinking of bringing to other regions. We’re looking at other businesses besides traditional duty free. “We are looking to grow in duty
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free too, but we’re also looking at other things to complement it.” Falic points out that the company
also has some bars that it has opened in Latin American airports. “We just think that travel retail
encompasses a lot of different businesses and we’re going to try to get involved in as many as we can.”
Game-changer in Rio Branco In terms of the company’s core duty free business developments, Falic reveals that DFA is opening up a ‘game changing’ store in Rio Branco very shortly. “We’re opening up that big
10,000sq m Rio Branco store at the end of October. That’s going to be a game changer in that area by far.” Falic also tells TRBusiness that he
is happy with how the company’s operations in the US are performing since DFA completed major refurbishments in JFK (T7) and at Washington Dulles. “The US is very strong right now; the economy is strong. We re-
A true family business
DFA’s President Leon Falic has on more than one occasion referred to the importance of company employees as being instrumental to DFA’s ongoing success and counts many as friends and even family. It therefore only seemed natural for his sons and nephews to gravitate towards the duty free business too when they came of age. “We’re three brothers and among the
has one boy and my other brother has one boy. “My eldest brother’s boy is a career student so he’s collecting his degrees
OCTOBER 2018
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right now and he’s going to be very well prepared when he comes to work with us. Falic’s other nephew runs the
three of us we have four boys,” says Falic. “I have two boys and my little brother
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fragrance & cosmetics business for all of DFA and his eldest son runs liquor and tobacco for the whole company. His younger son works for the Latin American business. “They all better be in the office before
we get in there and they all better be in there when we leave,” he remarks. “They’re all very enthusiastic and I
think to be honest they’re all better than us. But we have a great team and I would never replace anyone in my team for any
DFA are keeping it in the family: L-to-R: Joseph Falic; Jerome Falic; Leon Falic and Dov Falic.
TOP 10 OPERATORS 71
of my kids. We have great buyers, we have great people that work for us. They become friends and some of them are like family to us. We’re lucky because of the people we have.”
DFA has won business at both terminals at Panama’s Tocumen Airport within the last year.
did JFK T7, we re-did Washington Dulles and we extended our Miami contract. So we’re still very bullish in the US. I think it’s the right place to be and it’s doing great for us right now, particularly at the border. The borders are very strong. “But the US is not like an emerging
market; it’s a very steady business that’s growing.” Meanwhile, DFA has always been
transparent about its desire to put down roots outside of the Americas, which it has done successfully in Macau and Israel. However, it has ambitions to pick up more business in Asia in the coming years. “In Asia, I can’t really talk about
anything that I’ve secured…yet, but we’re working on different opportunities in Asia. Asia is a completely different ball game for us. We’re very happy with our Macau
“We just think that travel retail encompasses a lot of different businesses and we’re going to try to get involved in as many as we can.”
Leon Falic, DFA
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business [DFA runs a store at the famed Venetian Resort] and our Black coffee business. We feel like it could be a lot bigger and a lot better and we’re going to expand on it.” But it’s not just Asia which is a
target. A couple of years ago in a previous interview conducted with Falic, he chose to meet with TRBusiness at a London address, which naturally aroused our suspicion of a potential move for DFA into the European
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