Why Vintage Shopping Is Taking Off at Airports

When London stylist Bella Hignett went on a girls’ escape to Portugal last April, she knew one of her clients was in the market for a secondhand Louis Vuitton Neverfull tote. Yet the last place she expected to find one — in the exact size and fabric she was after — was at Humberto Delgado Airport,
in Lisbon.

“I was there early, so I had a look around and was excited to come across it,” Hignett says. To the delight of her client, she boarded her flight back to England with one additional designer bag in tow. Better still? She paid just $540 for a piece that retails for $2,030 new.

While it’s de rigueur to find luxury stores at airports, the Preloved boutique that Hignett discovered is at the forefront of secondhand shopping in terminals.

The Lisbon airport merchant is just over a year old and already a hit, says Cláudia Carvalho, a spokesperson for Portugal Duty Free, which operates the shop. Its ever-rotating selection often includes authenticated pieces from Bottega Veneta, Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Saint Laurent, Carvalho says, with prices starting at $400 and rising to the five figures for highly coveted finds — including Birkin and Kelly bags from Hermès.

The demand is a reflection of the booming market for secondhand luxury, which industry watchers say grew to $50 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, the overall airport retail market is estimated to hit $65 billion by 2030. Those forces seem destined to converge as consumers continue to demand high-quality, timeless pieces — but also a more accessible price point and less environmental impact.

“Airports are high-traffic hubs with diverse global audiences, so they offer the perfect setting for pre-loved luxury to flourish,” says Diana Verde Nieto, cofounder of sustainable-luxury consultancy Positive Luxury.

The first big airport to embrace the concept was Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International, with the 2021 opening of LXR, a boutique specializing in pre-owned bags. Today, travelers can find luxury secondhand shops in a number of European destinations, including Copenhagen, Zurich, and Helsinki, Finland. In New York, LaGuardia Airport recently added a Revolve boutique.

“The selection is always changing,” says Heidi Köpple, an executive at Zurich Airport, of the store Pre-Loved Luxury. “Now each visit to the airport becomes a treasure hunt.”

That’s certainly the word from Aruba, where Queen Beatrix International debuted the ReLux Collection boutique in September, with an oft-changing collection of about 50 purses, cross-body bags, and totes from labels including Gucci and Louis Vuitton. “Most of our pieces have been discontinued by the luxury brands and have become classics on travelers’ wish lists,” says Lizah Jansen, a spokesperson for the retailer Avolta, which operates the concession. Sales, she notes, are already well above projections.

A version of this story first appeared in the February 2025 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline “Good As New.”