Thomas Consultants, produced a retail strategy for Azteca. The document, commissioned by COMURSA, emphasized the potential for intermodal stations to exploit retail opportunities, looking at best-in-class international examples. The study noted that, unlike in conventional shopping centers, retail space in transportation infrastructure has a strong and constant customer base, thanks to a captive market and guaranteed foot traffic. Additionally, they can be more profitable because they are usually much smaller than traditional shopping centers (Thomas Consultants, 2006).

The Thomas study made a set of recommendations to maximize the retail potential of the station, including a detailed proposal of the desired mix of tenants and services. Some key points include (Thomas Consulting, 2006):

• “With the development of the new Azteca Station, passengers and other customer segments will now be given significantly more choices in leisure and entertainment amenities, creating reasons to increase dwell time and propensity to spend.”
• “With the retail, service and other amenities of an integrated transportation node and ‘leisure center’, Azteca Station would become the new format for blending local travel, leisure, entertainment and learning.”
• “The objective is to ‘ramp up’ passenger spending per visit at Azteca Station — transition from Moderate Spend Scenario to Optimistic or Aggressive Spend Scenarios.”
• “To achieve this objective, passenger dwell times must be lengthened to encourage spending on items beyond convenience retail items and grab & go food/beverage.”
• “Passengers’ perceptions of Azteca Station as a conventional transit node must be changed to a station that features a fully-integrated facility with leisure destination amenities.”

 

The Thomas Consultants Study