January 6, 2020
When Marques Warren visits Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), it feels a little like going home.
Warren was 12 when his father opened his first store at SEA, a news and gift shop on the B Concourse called Northwest Encounter. The shop was truly a family business and Warren grew up spending weekends in the back of the shop stocking shelves.
“If anyone asked, I had to tell people I was 16,” he said. “Spending my lunches watching planes take off and land was a big part of my childhood. At 5:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays up until I graduated from high school, a staff member would pick me up and bring me into work.”
Warren’s father Ardie Warren opened the first shop at SEA in 1994, before expanding with additional locations on the C and D Concourses. In 2004, the family business, called Warren’s News & Gift, (WNG) began its partnership with Hudson Group, one of the largest and most recognizable travel retailers in North America.
Warren is currently the Vice President of Operations at WNG, which today, in partnership with the Hudson Group, operates 18 stores at SEA, doing business across multiple licenses including Hudson News, Hudson Booksellers, Alki Café, Made in Washington, MAC Cosmetics, and Coach.
Growing up, Warren loved looking out the window and watching planes take off, while cool pilots walked by.
“Boeing was certainly a prominent aspect of our lives,” he said. “I learned up close and personal that the aviation industry is the coolest.”
From an early age he learned how operating an airport business was different than operating a typical business.
“We have to immediately address customer need,” he said. “We have one chance with a customer and have to make it count. There isn’t as much opportunity to build an ongoing relationship with a customer.”
Supporting small business
In addition to operating airport concessions, Warren owns and operates a retail store in downtown Seattle called Downtown Spirits, and is cofounder of a small investment bank called Cougar Mountain Financial, a venture especially close to his heart. Downtown Spirits has grown from 822 deliveries in 2014 to 15,546 deliveries in 2019, and Cougar Mountain Financial has originated bonds totaling $6.3 million since its initial private offering in 2018.
Warren studied finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the family business after college but didn’t give up on his dream of working in finance. Today Cougar Mountain Financial specializes in providing loans for small women and minority-owned businesses operating in airports (Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise). The bank is currently West Coast-focused and Warren has financed businesses at SEA, San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Warren hopes to open up opportunity to businesses that they may not have otherwise had.
“The first loan that I closed with a gentleman at SFO, we all went out to dinner,” he said. “After dinner we all walked out, and he shook my hand and told me ‘thanks for extending this loan. It has advanced my career so much further than it would be without it.’ He was 36 and he was able to raise money that wasn’t possible without a specialized company such as ourselves.”
Warren currently serves on the board of the Airport Minority Advisory Council (AMAC), a national, nonprofit association dedicated to promoting minority-owned, women-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises for airport contracting opportunities. The first time the AMAC conference was held in Seattle in 1993, Ardie Warren attended, with a dream of one day owning a business at the airport. Ardie Warren was able receive the resources he needed to write a proposal to get a space in the airport. Through providing ACDBE loans, Warren hopes to create similar opportunity to help others succeed.
“The goal for my business is for people of color in the Northwest to see opportunities and have access at least to get proposals and be part of the conversation,” he said. “If someone hadn’t done that and extended a hand to my dad, I wouldn’t be in a position to do this for other people.”
Advice for others
Warren encourages others looking to start a business at the airport to be persistent.
“Timing is everything; keep your eyes open for opportunities,” he said. “You also need a good solid rationale as to why your business would be successful in an airport setting.”
He said determination and taking the time to develop relationships with customers has helped make his airport businesses successful.
“Hone in on what the customer needs so that when there is an opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship, like for someone who travels repeatedly, they will make a point to stop at your location,” he said.
Responding to what customers buy, following trends outside the airport, and staying on the lookout for products customers will love all play a role in running a successful business.
The Port of Seattle has long been a supporter of small business growth and workforce development, and has made contracting with small firms, including disadvantaged, minority and women-owned businesses a priority.
Check out these resources about how to contract with the Port:
- Learn about airport lease requirements
- Sign up for a PortGen Workshop to learn more about doing business with the Port and current and upcoming opportunities
- Read about the Diversity in Contracting Program
- Subscribe to the email list to learn about opportunities
