This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Share the spirit with a gift from Starbucks. Our coffee brewers & espresso machines at special holiday prices. http://www.starbucks.com/shop/subcategory.asp?category_name=Sale/Clearance&ci=274&cookie_test=1 \----------------------------------------------------------/ Extra Waiting Time Is Turning Fliers Into Buyers February 4, 2002 By SARA RIMER PITTSBURGH, Feb. 2 - Michael Weller had unexpectedly sped through security at Pittsburgh International Airport. With three hours before his flight, he headed straight to the Soxx Shop, wedged between Timberland and the Gap and across from Nine West, Clinique and the Tie Rack. "I have an obsession with socks," said Mr. Weller, 50, browsing through the racks of socks decorated with hearts, baseballs, tools, musical instruments and 12 breeds of dog. In the past he would have hurried to his gate. But now Mr. Weller, a mental health services coordinator who was flying to Tampa, Fla., for his father's 80th birthday, could afford a leisurely search for what he called the therapy sock, emblazoned with a psychiatrist's couch. Mr. Weller was indulging in what experts in the airport retail trade refer to as dwell time. With the increased security measures that have been in place since Sept. 11 requiring them to arrive earlier, passengers at airports have a lot more dwell time these days. Pittsburgh, with more than 100 shops, restaurants and bars, has what many travelers consider some of the best airport shopping in the country. Figuring out what to do with the extra dwell time does not seem to be a problem here. "I just shop," said Sandi Gainey, who was buying socks at the Soxx Shop for her daughter and later planned to go to Timberland for a shirt for her son, Discovery for a toy whale or dinosaur for another son, Victoria's Secret for lingerie for her daughter and, finally, Perfumania for a scent called Ombre Rose for herself. At Pittsburgh International Airport, the number of daily passengers has fallen from 58,000 before Sept. 11 to 50,000, a drop of about 14 percent. But because people at the airport are spending more on average, sales were down only about 11 percent between September and December, said Kim Seyler, business development manager for BAA Pittsburgh, which leases and manages the concessions. When the final figures come in, sales for 2001 are expected to be about the same as for 2000, Ms. Seyler said. The Soxx Shop is on what retailers call the 50-yard line, an equal distance from the airport's four terminals. In September, Nina El-Tobgy, the owner, was fighting panic. "We thought we were done for," she said. "Our business was 50 percent down. But it started back in October." Bill Newlin Jr. had tried to remain optimistic about his plan to open two Ben & Jerry's ice cream stands, in addition to the three Seattle's Best coffee shops he was operating at the airport. "You just say, `People are going to fly again. Our way of life depends on it,' " Mr. Newlin said. He opened the first Ben & Jerry's, in the center of the shopping area, in December, and the second one, in the B terminal, three weeks ago. Stepping up to the counter of the one in the shopping area at 11:45 a.m., Alik Widge, 29, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University who was going to Los Angeles for a fellowship interview, ordered a cone with one scoop of triple caramel chunk and one scoop of peanut butter. Something comes over people at airports. One manifestation of this altered behavior Mr. Newlin has observed is that customers eat more ice cream than they ever would outside an airport. "They're either traveling on business, so someone else is paying, or they're on vacation, and the cuffs are off," he said, adding that the usual concerns with low-fat this and low- fat that are left on the other side of the security gate. "It's a different culture in airports." Now there are signs that the culture may be changing in other ways. For one thing, it is slowing down. With security lines, like the ones here, frequently not as long as expected, people are not racing through the airports the way they used to. They are buying even more sundaes than Mr. Newlin had hoped. Sipping a cup of Seattle's Best coffee, Dan Edwords, 54, who travels all over the country servicing pharmaceutical equipment, reflected on his own changing airport habits. "I never spent more than 15 or 20 minutes in an airport before my flight," he said. "My wife would always say, `You'll miss your flight.' But I always made it." Now he routinely arrives two hours early. "I'm eating more," he said "I'm reading more Agatha Christie novels." Mr. Edwords, who was on his way to Dallas and next week will be going to Anchorage, is adjusting. The Pittsburgh airport turns out to be a good place to adjust in the consumer age. At Bath & Body Works, Sally Bickerstaff, 57, a secretary at an elementary school, was stocking up on Sweet Pea lotions before her flight to Atlanta to visit her daughter. She was traveling with her husband, Robert. So where was he? "He's over there, buying books," Mrs. Bickerstaff said, pointing to the W. H. Smith store across the way. Joe Michael, 42, a venture capitalist heading to Toronto, was at the Soxx Shop. "I forgot my socks," he said, scooping up four pairs. "These are my doctor socks," he said, holding up a pair decorated with medical symbols. "I'm going to wear these when I do biotech deals." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/04/national/04AIRP.html?ex=1013841335&ei=1&en=53358c6c4528b94a HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact Alyson Racer at alyson@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company