The Warren Group / Warren's News & Gift · Seattle
30+ years of expertise in airport concessions.
Warren's News & Gift is the operating heart of The Warren Group — 32 years at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, joint-venture partner to Hudson since Hudson's first day there, and operator of a retail network that runs on its own capital and is measured in decades.
Scroll — the network assembles
1994HMS Host subtenant 2004Hudson JV lease ~20 stores 2027Duty-free Downtown Spirits Esquin · SODO 2026AI-NATIVE
1994 — HMS Host Subtenant · Concourse B
In 1994, Ardie Warren Jr entered Sea-Tac as a subtenant of HMS Host — then Host Marriott — opening Northwest Encounter on Concourse B. Under the Host banner, one counter grew to sixteen stores. His operating philosophy fit on a shelf tag: sell a lot of stuff for not a lot of money. Volume and value — the merchant's arithmetic. Every node on this network still runs on it.
Ardie led the company until his passing in March 2025. His son Marques Warren — Wharton-trained, raised in the store from age twelve — is president and sole owner today.
Home node: SEA · 1994 · First store
2004 — The Hudson JV Lease
The current chapter began in 2004 with the Hudson lease at Sea-Tac, held through a joint venture — WNG at the table from Hudson's first day there, a seat on the Management Committee, direction of the central terminal store. The network grew to roughly 20 stores; growth since is measured in departing-passenger revenue, not store count. WNG has not borrowed capital from Hudson: a financial partner, not a tenant.
In 2011 the company marked the era with the wing — five bars sweeping into flight, the mark it flies today.
First arc: SEA — EWR · Since 2004
2012–2023 — The Merchant Network
One merchant identity, several expressions — finding good buying wherever it lives, and passing the value through to the customer at home.
From $1.2M in 2012 to $7M+ 2022 combined Downtown Spirits + Esquin street-side revenue — and the world's first checkout-free wine & spirits store, powered by Amazon Just Walk Out since August 2023. 1813 7th Ave.
Washington's oldest wine merchant: 15,000 sq ft and 5,000+ wines. With Esquin Wine Storage — 55°F private cellaring, 9 to 220 cases.
The trade expression of the merchant root. 4701 Colorado Avenue.
Checkout-free is not a gadget. It is the network's data discipline applied to a store floor — risk down, decisions up. By 2026 that discipline runs the whole group: AI-native operations across the group.
Three spurs off the home node
Case Study — SFO Tidelands
The network's next node returns WNG to San Francisco, where it operated from 2001 to 2007. Skycharger Market pairs EV charging with a Just Walk Out convenience store on SFO's Tidelands — designed, rendered, and in Design Review Committee resubmission now. Not a promise of innovation; a permit set.
EV charging + JWO c-store · SFO Tidelands · DRC resubmission 3/2026
This is also where the network meets Avolta — the concessionaire partnership behind WNG's 2027 duty-free award at Sea-Tac. One operator discipline, two airports.
Read the SFO / Tidelands case study →Arc south: SEA — SFO · Drawn in permit ink
2027 and Onward — Home to Seattle
Sea-Tac's duty-free contract has been awarded to the Hudson–WNG partnership with Avolta, effective 2027 — the constellation now crosses an ocean, and the globe turns home to Seattle. For an airport weighing its next decade of concessions, the evaluation ends where it began:
"This Hudson/Warren partnership knows its market(s) and presents the safest option for our airport's risk management and financial stability." The standing brief, for every RFP evaluator.
Under WNG Duty Paid, with Hudson: Tumi · Coach · MAC Cosmetics · 7-Eleven · Filson
Start the conversation1813 7th Avenue, Seattle, WA · (206) 575-6993 · info@thewarrengrp.com