When airport concessionaire HMS Host Corporation set out to introduce a new bookstore concept for air travelers, it created a retail environment that provided an escape from the hustle and bustle of airports.

In an airport, the one thing that doesn't fly by is time. Waiting passengers cool their heels by watching muted big–screen TVs and idly musing over souvenir T–shirts. At some point, even non–readers long for something to read.

In the late 1990s, HMS Host, the world's largest provider of food, beverage and retail concessions in the travel industry, saw an opportunity to develop a bookstore for air travelers that went beyond the limited selection of best–selling paperbacks sold in newsstand shops. To bring this concept to life, it turned to Chute Gerdeman, a Columbus, Ohio–based retail design firm that has created retail spaces for clients ranging from Macy's and the Smithsonian Museums to Walt Disney Imagineering.

"HMS Host gave us a 'clean sheet of paper' to come up with a new concept that wasn't a newsstand," recalls Denny Gerdeman. "No magazines. Simply books." Hence the name. Chute Gerdeman quickly realized that designing a retail space in an airport would be much different than designing a store for a shopping mall or urban center.

"Customers don't go to airports specifically to shop," Gerdeman points out. "And they are people with either a lot of time [to browse] or no time." Demographic studies also show that air travelers tend to be more affluent and better educated than the average population, avid readers, and more likely to be male than female. Most are traveling on business.

Relative to shopping malls and city stores, retail real estate in major airports is very costly and very limited in square footage. The smallest Simply Books store, for instance, is just 950 square feet. "Airport retailers don't have as much space to display everything, so you have to be more thoughtful about how you arrange merchandise and layout the store," says Gerdeman. "To be profitable, airport retailing easily needs to bring in twice or even triple the revenue per square foot over other traditional venues."

HMS Host excels in this area. As the retail concessionaire in 25 major airports worldwide, including 10 of the top 20 airports in the U.S., HMS Host has made "a real science of knowing what stores go where and what the best retail mix should be," says Gerdeman. "They know how many passengers are deplaning and taking off, and how much they will spend on each kind of retail facility, whether that is restaurants, beverages, news or gifts."

Each customer is counted as one "emplanement," because shoppers tend to be people waiting for a flight, rather than deplaning. In the post– 9/11 era, most passengers also prefer to hang out on the "air" side beyond the security checkpoint rather than dally on the "land" side where the ticket counters are located. Since customers are people starting off on their journey, they also usually avoid buying anything heavy and oversized such as coffee table books.

In considering the best place to locate its bookstore, HMS Host recognized a natural affinity between reading and a cup of coffee and chose to open its first bookstore adjacent to a Starbucks at the Charlotte, North Carolina, airport. (HMS Host holds the license to operate all Starbucks airport concessions.)

Chute Gerdeman started the assignment by first conducting field research at airports with the "latest and greatest" retail and studying the competition. This convinced them to forego the staid mahogany–paneling "library" look and opt for creating a relaxing yet modern oasis for harried travelers. "Airports are all about intensity and rushing around," says Gerdeman. "We wanted to support the cultural art of reading and project an inspiring attitude that was a little unexpected. We wanted the color palette to be calming and to have visuals that didn't pound you over the head saying 'buy, buy, buy.'" In keeping with a straightforward, non–gimmicky approach, they focused on building a brand identity around the name Simply Books, creating a logotype based on Emigre's Suburban Light that looked handwritten, slightly naive and quirky.

For the store interior, Chute Gerdeman favored softer surfaces, natural wood tones and a muted green hue. They even avoided harsh flickering fluorescent lights, choosing instead to go with diffused incandescent recessed lights to create a residential mood. To appeal to customers who want to linger awhile, they included an inviting cushioned chair and bar stools for reading.

But even people with long layovers need to keep track of the time, so Chute Gerdeman placed a large four–sided clock tower in the middle of Simply Books, with current best–selling fiction displayed underneath it. Gerdeman explains that the idea is "like putting bread in the back of a grocery store." The best–sellers become a "destination purchase that brings customers in far enough to see other titles." Above the clock tower, they placed a silk–screened ceiling graphic featuring the names of literary legends to reinforce the fact that Simply Books appreciates great literature.

Aisles wide enough to accommodate two rolling suitcases side by side, and two cash registers to handle the surge of checkouts as customers rush to catch their flight show a regard for the needs of travelers. Chute Gerdeman also designed displays to show all books face out to make sure that timepressed Simply Books customers could see everything quickly. "Front–facing products make it easier to make buying decisions and speed purchases. If you force customers to look for what they want, they probably won't," Gerdeman says, adding, "Customers don't want to walk around with their heads cocked sideways to read the titles off the spine."

For many business travelers constantly on the go, airport layovers offer a rare opportunity to shop leisurely. Simply Books caters to them by providing shipping and gift–wrapping services and even a frequent purchase program. Such amenities appeal to air travelers who are being told to check in for domestic flights two hours before departure. The more time people have to spend in airports, the more they want to spend their time in a productive and meaningful way. Examining souvenir coffee mugs doesn't cut it. That has made Simply Books a winning brand concept that is encouraging HMS Host to open more Simply Books stores in airports around the country.