The retail experience in airport departure lounges: reaching for timelessness and placelessness

It is reasonable to assume that a sense of timelessness and placelessness i s particularly likely to be experienced by travelers in transit, involved i n international travel between distant places with different time zones. Th erefore an examination of the environment in airport departure lounges migh t be expected to offer an insight into the Post-modern environment in which time and place are beginning to lose meaning Retailers have a significant role to Play in the creation and Shaping of such environments. The research described in this article was conducted in pursuit of the following aim: t o investigate airport departure lounges as environments in which timelessne ss and placelessness might be exhibited This environment is analysed in ter ms of: servicescape and ambience; the range of retail outlets and their pro duct ranges; marketing messages and communication; and, the customer experi ence. A level of sameness is uncovered, but there are also national and cul tural dimensions which invade the experience. This creates a softened but n ot entirely, absent sense of place and time.