VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Vacation Store opened its first
walk-in retail location here on Jan. 20. Previously, the Vacation
Store had been marketed only through cable television shows such as
The Travel Channel.
Among those attending the opening was Carnival Cruise Lines
president Bob Dickinson, who has been championing unconventional
forms of retail vacation outlets.
The store, called Vacation Planning Center, has interactive
visual displays and is manned by "travel consultants and planners."
Vacation Store chairman David Kaufman said the company's retail
outlets would be expanded to other regions of the country.
The Virginia Beach store is located in the upscale Hilltop Mall,
where the company also moved its corporate headquarters and
back-office functions.
The company has grown from $5 million in sales in 1995, the year
it was founded, to $25 million last year, Kaufman reported. The
company's business is based on travel packages that can be ordered
through a toll-free phone number.
It mails its Express Planning Kits to interested travelers, and
markets its packages to travel agents on a commissionable basis, a
spokeswoman for the company said. Kaufman said the new walk-in
locations would provide "a new way to make vacation arrangements in
a more intimate store setting."
The retail outlet has a travel video and guidebook library, he
added. Additionally, it sells luggage in a joint venture with
Travel 2000 Travel Gear.
According to Vacation Store president David Wolfe, the firm is
"spearheading innovative, integrated marketing programs with
partners such as Carnival Cruise Lines, Mcdonald's and The Virginia
Lottery." Other travel partners are Holland America Line and
SuperClubs.