Lauren Duty Free closed at airport

The Lauren Duty Free Store has been a part of the Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport since 1989, but on Friday one of the duty free stores was closed down, its contents packed up and put in containers without any of its staff being present. The Belize Airports Authority says it was forced to take such drastic action because U.E.T.A. of Belize Limited has been operating under what they term “illegal” contracts in both the arrival and departure terminals. The Authority says that after three separate deadlines over the past three months, U.E.T.A. refused to enter another store in the terminal. They claim that the store in the arrival terminal is too big, taking up 40 percent of the expanded floor space and interferes with the smooth flow of passengers. News Five spoke with Lauren Reardon Smith of Lauren Duty Free today who says she cannot understand how her contracts can suddenly be declared invalid, but she has been trying over the past few months to come to an acceptable agreement with the Airports Authority. She says it would not have made financial sense to move into a facility which was only a fraction of the size of the arrival store. In particular, however, she says she cannot believe the manner in which her store was taken apart in her absence — without the presence of any customs officers — by Airport Security staff who told her she had to close down at 6 p.m. on Friday but would not tell her why.

Lauren Reardon Smith, General Manager, Lauren Duty Free

“I locked my doors, secured the arrival store and I left. And the next morning I discovered the authority went in shortly after I left, broke in and completely dismantled my store. They took all of the merchandise out of the store, loaded it into some 40 foot containers; took my furniture, fixtures, everything. I don’t know what’s in those containers – if it’s broken, damaged, if it’s good, if it’s there.

The size of the store that we had was 2,000 square feet and the investment is huge. What they were telling us is what we want you to do is put aside the investment that you’ve already done — over $500,000 — and reinvest again by dismantling the store, bare all the losses, rebuild all the fixtures and accept far less revenue. This is what they are telling us.”

Reardon Smith says she is waiting for word from U.E.T.A. headquarters about what to do next. Although the Authority claims the previous Chairman, Michael Godoy did not have the power to sign any contracts on their behalf they have not suspended U.E.T.A.’s contract for the departure lounge Lauren Duty Free. Reardon Smith says the arrival Lauren Duty Free was paying 15 percent on their gross receipts to the Airports Authority. It is not clear at this point if the Authority is planning to cut down the size of the arrival terminal shopping area, or rent it out to another company or companies.