MӒURER & WIRTZ OPENS IMPRESSIVE 4711 SHOP-IN-SHOP WITH Gebr HEINEMANN AT COLOGNE AIRPORT

 April 17 2014. Today sees the official opening of the new 4711 Shop-in-Shop at Cologne Airport Terminal 1. The around 100 sq m space has been opened by 4711 brand owner MÄURER & WIRTZ in conjunction with airport retailer Gebr. Heinemann.

Speaking at the opening, Mäurer&Wirtz CEO Thomas Seeger-Helbach commented: ‘Today’s event represents a highlight of the long term and successful cooperation between Gebr. Heinemann and Mäurer&Wirtz in Germany’s Travel Retail business.This outstanding setting of the world of 4711 at Cologne airport demonstrates the substance and potential of this City’s most iconic brand. Our special thanks go to Gebr. Heinemann for this trusting cooperation and we are looking forward to mutually benefitting from the success story which is 4711.’

The highly visible shop-in-shop is well positioned immediately after security and presents travellers with a total 4711 experience. The area includes an impressive 1.7m counter, presenting the various ingredients used in the various 4711 lines; a history wall detailing the development of the brand through photographs, advertising images etc; a massive back-wall of 4711 Original Eau De Cologne bottles; and an interactive screen where passengers can find out more information about the brand.

In addition a full range of 4711 products is offered for purchase along with the Original Eau de Cologne, this includes the 4711 Nouveau Cologne, ACQUA COLONIA and the newly launched 4711 Wunderwasser.

Says Mäurer&Wirtz senior area manager Margareta Klein; ‘This new shop in shop demonstrates perfectly the level of support that Mäurer&Wirtz is willing and able to give travel retail. We have worked closely with Gebr. Heinemann for many years and are incredibly grateful to them for putting their faith in us – and the 4711 brand.

‘This is a first, and very important step in our ambition to grow our presence in travel retail stores globally. This beautiful new shop-in-shop is both a testament to the historic connection that 4711 has with the city of Cologne and also to the importance that we put in travel retail as a fantastic shop window to the world.’

‘When we thought about creating something unique for our new shop environment we very soon came to know that presenting 4711 in a separate corner would be the right decision regarding turnover potential as well as creating a perfect local footprint,’ says Kai Langnickel, Retail Manager Heinemann Duty Free in Cologne. ‘We are at Cologne Airport the no.1 selling outlet for 4711 products within the Heinemann company; the collaboration with Mäurer&Wirtz has been very good and we strongly believe that the new appearance will elate our customers.’

Notes to editors: Cologne is the birthplace of 4711, first created by Wilhelm Muelhens from his house in the Glockengasse, numbered four-thousand seven-hundred and eleven by the Napoleonic city administration. Here he was inspired by the more pleasant scents of 18^th Century Cologne – cinnamon, lemon, mint, orange, nutmeg bergamot and lime. His initial concoction, named ‘aqua mirabilis’ was drunk in its pure form or mixed with wine, believed 

to have healing powers. When Napoleon demanded that all medicinal recipes be made public in 1810, Muelhens – in order to protect his secret recipe – declared his "Echt Kölnisch Wasser" ('original Cologne water') a healing scent for external application. Napoleon himself became a renowned customer, even carrying a special casket for the bottle on his riding boot. Kaisers and kings, the Russian tsar’s court, Goethe and Wagner all joined the select list of clients. 

The 4711 brand was soon available through branches in Vienna, New York and around the globe. As early as 1840, fully laden merchant ships left the harbours of the North Sea, carrying crates of 4711 to the port towns of the Indian Ocean. 

From the very beginning, the brand has been driven by the will to innovate. 4711 was the first company to stop using the Rosoli bottles of the time, which could only be stored lying flat, and to change to the famous Molanus bottle. With its hexagonal form, it made transport easier and allowed for a large label, which introduced the blue and gold design still used today. As early as 1869, the company bought interests in the flower industry of Grasse in order to safeguard the quality of the ingredients. The company owner at this time, P. P. Muelhens, travelled to India, Asia and the Orient in search of aromatic inspiration, and created numerous scents, such as heliotrope and Shahi.

In the early 20th-century new manufacturing methods saw the introduction of new fantasy scents in addition to the hitherto popular flower perfumes.  Thus, at the same time as a certain Coco Chanel, 4711 worked on a new scent composition made possible by the recently discovered aldehydes. In 1921, two perfumes were launched – Chanel No. 5 and Tosca by 4711, both becoming the world's best-selling perfumes. In the Twenties, the famous Glockengasse No. 4711 became an umbrella brand.

In 2007 MÄURER & WIRTZ acquired the perfume brands 4711, Tosca, Sir Irisch Moos and Extase, in a move that saw the traditional fragrance 4711 returning to Rhenish ownership. In 2009 ACQUA COLONIA was launched as a prestige sub-brand of the 4711 brand.

*Photograph 0025 - Gunnar Heinemann, Gebe Heinemann, with  Mäurer&Wirtz CEO Thomas Seeger-Helbach and senior area manager Margareta Klein.