The airport store was the third new opening in the space of a year, joining an outlet for the luxury food and gift retailer at London’s St Pancras International Station, and a licensed store in Dubai. The three are the first new stores in hundreds of years for the retailer, and mark a bold change in style for the company following the arrival of Ventners from Selfridges in August 2012. He has brought nothing short of a Midas touch. The new store openings have helped the company to a doubling of profits year-on-year to £3.8m, with sales up 14 per cent in the year to July 2014, in spite of lower spending from tourists.  The proportion of domestic customers has increased, Ventners said, and the store was getting back to the point where people were using it as a regular shop for luxury grocery items and gifting. Tea and food has done well as an appropriate gift for those affected by anti-corruption legislation in China, and gift hampers rose 18 per cent.  There would be “a number of extremely exciting initiatives in 2015,” Ventners said.