Press Release

Duty Free Business, March 2001

Baja Duty Free To Open Flagship Store

BAJA DUTY FREE, Fairn & Swanson's retail division, is pleased to announce the signing of a lease at the new, International Gateway of the Americas shopping center in San Ysidro, California. The center is located adjacent to the U.S./Mexico border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana and is expected to open in May 2002.

The Gateway Center is at the busiest land border crossing in the world with more than 86 million crossings per year. Phase One of the project will be the construction of a 625,000 sq. ft. open-air retail shopping center. Tenants will include Tommy Hilfiger, Banana Republic, The Gap, Liz Claiborne and many other well-known retailers. Phase Two of the project will include "The Bridge of the Americas", a landmark pedestrian toll bridge connecting San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, which will allow crossings onto a promenade that is surrounded by restaurants and outlet stores for the 16 million pedestrians expected to cross.

Baja Duty Free will be the only duty-free retail store in the shopping center and will open an additional store at the pedestrian crossing when the bridge is completed. Special parking and traffic arrangements will allow customers to purchase goods and go directly to the border by company vans or their personal vehicles hassle-free.

The planned 10,000 sq. ft. store will be constructed by Winter 2001/2002 and is scheduled to open in May 2002. Madeline Speer Associates, a planning and design firm is designing the store. MSA have extensive project experience designing stores, offices, restaurants, public spaces and special exhibits. Their clienteles include well known duty free and domestic retailers such as ELVMH, DFS, I. Magnin, Macy's and Lancôme. The architects for the store are T. Goodwin Associates. Their list of clients includes numerous retail and corporate clients: The Gap, Best Buy, Charles Schwab, Pier One, Bank of America and numerous boutiques.

Baja Duty Free will continue to sell its traditional duty-free products including imported and domestic liquor, tobacco, fragrances, cosmetics and accessories. They are adding other specialized merchandise, focusing on brands especially designed and created for their Hispanic customer base. In addition to well-known international brands, they will extend their product lines for the more sophisticated consumer to include small electronics, high-end watches, eye wear, plush toys and confectionaries.

Fairn & Swanson continue to see expansions in the future for Baja Duty Free. They are researching the Southwestern USA border for additional sites to take advantage of the enormous potential in the duty free, retail market.

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