Davidoff celebrated the opening of its second walk-in
humidor in Europe on December 14 in a moving ceremony that also paid tribute to
the cigar specialist’s 45-year relationship with the German family-owned travel
retailer Gebr Heinemann.
Located in the Heinemann Duty Free shop at Frankfurt
Airport Terminal 1, the contemporary 15sq m space houses both Dominican cigars
made by Davidoff and cigars from Cuba. In addition, an exclusive Heinemann
Travel Retail Limited Cigar Edition is available to purchase in the new store
for cigar aficionados.
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| The new Davidoff of Geneva walk-in humidor at Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1 |
A milestone for Davidoff
During the event, which gathered together media guests as
well as Davidoff’s partners from Gebr Heinemann and Frankfurt airport authority
Fraport, a Davidoff cigar roller from the Dominican Republic showed off his
cutting skills, carefully crafting a range of different products from the brand’s
portfolio.
Speaking to the guests at the official ribbon-cutting
ceremony, Oettinger Davidoff AG CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard said: “This is a
milestone. It’s our first [walk-in humidor] opening in the EU and our second in
Europe, after Zurich Airport. The idea came about two years ago, when Claus
Heinemann [Gebr Heinemann co-owner] said to me, ‘We need more theatre
in tobacco, maybe Davidoff can help’. And this walk-in humidor is the result.
We look forward to making it a destination for travellers.”
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| Davidoff CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard (right) celebrates with Gebr Heinemann co-founder and CEO Claus Heinemann |
Long-standing partnership
Frankfurt Airport T1 serves many American and Japanese
passengers, with the number of Asian travellers peaking in the afternoon,
Hoejsgaard noted. “This is the crossroads, this is where we want to be,” he
said of the German hub.
Hoejsgaard then paid tribute to the long-standing
partnership between the two family-owned companies: “Davidoff is celebrating a
special, 45-year relationship with the Heinemann family. It means a tremendous
amount to our company.”
In response to this moving tribute, Claus Heinemann
reiterated the two companies’ “great relationship” and lauded Davidoff’s “wonderful
range of cigars”.
Heinemann noted that some 25% of Frankfurt Airport’s
duty-free tobacco business was already generated by cigars, adding that he still
saw good potential in the cigar category.
Humidor exudes
warmth, modernity and tradition
The new humidor is located, fittingly, next to the Ferragamo
luxury fashion store. Ferragamo’s CEO Michele Norsa is a board member of
Oettinger Davidoff AG, but this happy coincidence came as a complete surprise to
both Hoejsgaard and Norsa. (Norsa has apparently expressed his delight at the
brands’ adjacency in the multi-brand duty-free store.)
The humidor itself is modelled on Caribbean dark wood, with
the orange stripe around the logo signifying the warm sun. Caribbean-style
shutters are subtly reproduced in the interior wooden lattice work. “We wanted
to convey warmth, tradition and modernity for a 21st century cigar lounge and
humidor,” Hoejsgaard told MJ Rabbit.
Now Hoejsgaard is looking forward to some more Davidoff
milestones – most notably, a total of three prestigious shops which will begin
trading soon in Manhattan. The three locations include a new flagship at the new,
state-of-the-art Brookfield Place shopping mall in the redeveloped World Trade
Center, opening later this month. In addition, a spacious new Davidoff lounge
will welcome cigar lovers in Tampa, Florida – in the same week as the opening
of the Frankfurt Airport humidor.
Happy days indeed in the Davidoff HQ.
