Paradies Lagardère (formerly The Paradies Shops, Inc.) operates stores in airports, hotels, and other locations throughout the United States and Canada. Locations include specialty stores, restaurants and bookstores.[1] The company was founded in 1960 in Atlanta, Georgia.
History
The Paradies Shops were founded by brothers Jim and Dan Paradies in 1960. Their first store was a toy shop at the then-Atlanta Municipal Airport. Since 1960, Paradies has expanded to over 1,035 stores in 103 airports. The company operates stores under brands such as The New York Times, various American collegiate athletic conferences, Brooks Brothers, Corsa, Spanx, iStore, Swarovski, Pandora, Dylan's Candy, and others. Paradies Lagardere also manages multiple fine dining food and beverage concepts within airports. The company was acquired by Lagardère Group, a French company, in October 2015. Now known as Paradies Lagardère, the company encompasses all stores formerly under The Paradies Shops and LS Retail names. In 2018, Airport Revenue News named Paradies the “Best Overall Retailer” for the 23rd consecutive year.
1852: Louis Hachette opened the first railway Bookstore, Bibliothèques de Gare.
1881: Hatchette developed the distribution network Messageries Hachette, and becomes the supplier to over 80,000 press outlets across France.
1945: Hachette launched the Elle Magazine.
1960: Jim and Dan Paradies open the first Paradies Shop in Atlanta Municipal Airport.
1986: Hachette acquired Curtis Circulation in the US, in the magazine distribution market.
1990: Hachette acquires Eastern Lobby Shops, a U.S. news and convenience retail company.
1992: PGA TOUR and Paradies sign an agreement for the first airport retail brand partnership.
1995: Hachette acquires The UCS Group, Canada's largest press retailer.
1996: Coca-Cola names Paradies its official retailer for Summer Olympic games in Atlanta.
2000: Canada's UCS Group merges with America's Eastern Lobby Shops and creates HDS Retail North America.
2007: Paradies launches its Food and Beverage Division.
2008: HDS Retail acquires a majority interest in the Phoenix-based Delstar Companies Inc., and the San Antonio-based airport retailer, News & Gift Shops International.
2011: HDS Retail North America becomes LS travel retail North America, to align with the corporate branding of Lagardère Services’ travel retail division.
2014: LS travel retail North America sells its Canadian urban retail locations to Gateway Newsstands. The sale allows LS travel retail to operate in travel environments.
2015: Lagardère Travel Retail Acquires Paradies and merges it with LS travel retail North America to create a new market leader for airport concessions.
2017: Paradies Legardere bought airport bar chain Vino Volo.
