“The Belgian Chocolate House” wins Mercurius award

This year International Duty Free (IDF) wins the Mercurius award with the innovative concept “The Belgian Chocolate House”. This prestigious award is reserved for the most successful store concept and is presented by the sector organisation Comeos each year. Currently there are nine stores in Belgium and Luxembourg, five of which at Brussels Airport. 

Each year, Comeos, the Belgian Federation for Commerce and Services, presents the Mercurius award, a prestigious prize reserved for the most successful store concept of the year. From the many entries, 11 nominees were selected by a jury of retail experts including Claude Boffa (Solvay Retail Management Programme), Gino Van Ossel (Professor of Retail and Trade Marketing at Vlerick Business School), Malaika Brengman (Professor of Marketing & Consumer Behaviour at VUB) and Silvie Vanhout (The Retail Academy).

Over the past few months, the independent jury visited the nominees anonymously and when selecting between the applications sent in, the jury were mainly looking for a store concept where innovation and experience are key. “The Belgian Chocolate House”, a chain of International Duty Free (IDF) stores, carried off the Mercurius award this year thanks to its ingenious store design, extensive range and strong niche concept. IDF is the biggest retailer of Belgian chocolates in the world, and at its five The Belgian Chocolate House shops at the airport alone it sells 860 tonnes of chocolate each year. This means around two tonnes of chocolate a day or 1.4kg per minute.

‘The quality of the service we provide to passengers and partners at Brussels Airport is at the centre of everything we do at the airport’ explains Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company. ‘Our range of stores is certainly an important part of this. So we’re very proud that IDF has been presented this prestigious award for “The Belgian Chocolate House”.’