Firm loses O'Hare shops; Fight for duty-free stores between groups with ties to Daley

The worm has turned for a clout-heavy O'Hare Airport concessionaire whose partners have included Jeremiah Joyce, a Mayor Daley political operative who is one of the mayor's closest friends in politics.

After operating lucrative, duty-free shops at O'Hare's domestic terminals for the last 12 years -- on a contract that expired two years ago and has been on month-to-month extensions ever since -- Duty Free America has been replaced by Nuance Group North America. Nuance operates 340 retail locations in 57 airports around the world.

The partnership that includes Duty Free and McDonald's is also about to lose its stranglehold on duty-free shops at O'Hare's international terminal.

After three requests-for-proposals, City Hall has decided to "go in a different direction." No longer will Duty Free be a "master concessionaire" riding herd over the entire terminal. The contract will be broken up into pieces.

On Friday, a company that has thrived on its clout found itself in an unfamiliar position: as the bypassed bidder pleading its case before the City Council's Aviation Committee.

Duty Free officials bad-mouthed the competition and complained about a selection process cloaked in secrecy. They argued that their $8 million guaranteed annual rent offer was $1 million higher than Nuance when you factor in Duty Free's offer to build 1,444 square feet of additional retail space.

Duty Free even pointed to the clout behind the competition. Nuance's registered lobbyists include former Planning and Development Commissioner Chris Hill and former Chicago Board of Education President Gery Chico, Daley's choice to take over as president of the Chicago Park District board.

"We've been your partner through thick and thin. After 9/11, we paid full rent. During the liquid scare, when 50 to 60 percent of our products could not be sold, not once did we come crying to the city. We've been a good tenant. . . . You're trading a known quantity with a solid track record for a foreign company," said partner Brad O'Halloran.

'SOUNDS LIKE SOUR GRAPES'

Joyce wasn't among those complaining. And O'Halloran insisted that Joyce would not have been part of Duty Free's domestic bid going forward.

But the irony was not lost on Chicago aldermen, who approved the Nuance contract over Duty Free's objections.

"It sounds like sour grapes," said Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th). "Your protest came off like you felt a sense of entitlement. 'We've been there 12 years and we're entitled to it.' You're disparaging the Department of Aviation like they don't know what they're doing."