commerce. All passengers seek food, regardless of whether they are flying low-cost or legacy carriers. The best airport concession planners understand this and place retail concessions near food stands. The reasoning beyond this design strategy is simple: passengers may not go out of their way to purchase sunglasses or a wristwatch, but they are more likely to make an impulse purchase if they stumble upon a retail area while searching for sustenance. However, some designers continue to showcase food vendors and hide other retail outlets. As a result, passengers often forget they need an extra set of headphones or a souvenir for a child until they are walking down the passenger boarding bridge. Terminals can eliminate this problem by including accompanying space for retail stores next to food concessions. The challenge is to keep everything accessible. When done correctly, this solu-
tion can increase merchandise sales and keep passengers happy.
� The psychology of space Research shows that passengers want to stay within 250 feet — about three gates removed — from their holdrooms. Beyond that distance, nervousness sets in, and they begin to worry about missing critical announcements or the flight itself. To keep passengers happy, terminal planners traditionally have placed concessions at 250foot intervals, giving each holdroom easy access to concessions but creating a whole subset of problems in the process. The repetitive insertion of concessions has spurred the proliferation of generic mass food and beverage stands, which thrive in clusters where all their options easily can be displayed. As a result, the layouts of most terminals alternate between
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