City council OKs overhaul of food, shopping at Palm Springs airport

The Palm Springs City Council approved contracts Monday with two airport concession companies that will overhaul the airport's food and shopping offerings to emphasize local brands and products.

The companies, the Marshall Retail Group and Paradies Lagardére, will replace nearly all of the airport's existing shopping and food and beverage merchants with new merchants.

The planned vendors include Palm Springs restaurants Trio and El Mirasol, which will open new branches at the airport, plus several new shopping and dining establishments created specifically for the airport, including a bar that will focus on serving craft beer from local breweries.

The contracts last 10 years, which city and airport officials said is an industry standard, and can be extended for another five years.

Trio, El Mirasol to open at airport

Under the plan, five existing shops at the airport and three restaurants will be replaced with new businesses. El Mirasol and Coachella Valley Coffee will share a 2,000-square-foot space that has been vacant since 2020.

In addition, Buzz by BarFly will move from its current location in the Regional Concourse to a new standalone bar space in the middle of the Sonny Bono Concourse now occupied by a fountain and some artwork.

The planned retail offerings do not include branches of any existing Coachella Valley stores but rather several shops designed for the airport that will sell products from local institutions, businesses and artists, including the Palm Springs Art Museum and The Living Desert. In total, about 40 local businesses will now be represented at the airport in some capacity, officials said. There are also plans for a store specializing in technology items and a duty-free cart meant to appeal to Canadian travelers.

While most of the vendors will be unique to either the airport or the Coachella Valley, one of the planned vendors is a Vino Volo wine bar that Paradies operates at many of its airports, including LAX and John Wayne International Airport in Orange County.

Airport needs more space for dining

Beyond changing the brands at the airport, the vendors have plans to overhaul the vending spaces at the airport to better serve an increasing passenger load. The airport has been rapidly adding airlines and seeing record traffic in recent months.

A Paradies representative, Pam Brown, said her company's plans include expanding and updating kitchens at the airport and nearly doubling the number of restaurants at the airport. The amount of restaurant seating available will also nearly double, going from about 250 seats to 450.

"So, for the last couple of years, as things have really boomed here, we've learned we don't have the infrastructure in place to serve the number of people we have," she said.

PSP's food concessions have seen several upheavals since 2020, when the airport's food and beverage operator, HMS Host, terminated its contract with the airport amid the COVID-19 pandemic that led to a yearlong decrease in travel. Later that year, Paradies Lagardére, the airport's retail contractor, took over the food and beverage contracts and opened five new establishments in the spaces HMS Host left shuttered.

In summer 2022, a committee consisting of airport staff, Visit Palm Springs board members and consultants hired by the city considered three bids from companies looking to operate the airport's shops and two more from firms interested in operating the food and beverage outlets.

Marshall Retail Group and Paradies Lagardére were selected, in part, because of their explanation of how they work with local companies they are bringing into the airport, Manager of Airport Administration Victoria Carpenter said.

"They weren't just going to throw them into the airport. They were going to actually walk them through the process and help them along the way," she said.

On Monday, several members of the city council praised the concessionaires' plans.

"I really appreciate both groups for including our local businesses," said Councilmember Christy Holstege.

Council to oversee future changes

The council also asked for language to be included in the contracts stating that the council would be able to review any future changes to the vendor mix for the purpose of ensuring that the percentage of the airport dedicated to local businesses and merchandise was not reduced.

The council, however, said that the purpose of the review would be only to ensure that the amount of space dedicated to local businesses was not reduced, not to determine which local businesses would be represented at the airport.

There are no plans to add any new businesses in the main terminal, where passengers check bags, claim luggage and rent cars. At present, the only food offerings are via vending machines near baggage claim.

Holstege said she was concerned about having vending machines continue to occupy that space, saying she would rather see something that offers a real experience and jobs and does not create the amount of "plastic waste" associated with vending machines.

Carpenter responded that Marshall had approached Starbucks about reopening there, but the company declined. The airport has reached out to other coffee companies; some expressed interest, but no agreement has been finalized.

The dining overhaul work will begin next February and be completed in two phases, according to the airport. The first will start in February and involve the construction of El Mirasol and Joshua Tree Coffee Company, plus the new Buzz By BarFly and an empanada stand in the regional concourse. It is slated to be completed in October.

The existing Santa Rosa Kitchen and PSP Coffee House and Wine Bar will remain open until the start of the second phase, which will begin in May 2024 and be completed by the end of that year. During that period, the new Trio and Vino Volo restaurants will be built. The retail shops will be built in one phase starting in July 2023 and ending that October.

Paul Albani-Burgio covers breaking news and the City of Palm Springs. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and via email at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs airport PSP to get new food, shopping vendors