Art Source Gallery will be down to one location by this fall.
Boise Airport spokesperson Sean Briggs said Art Source Gallery’s airport location’s month-to-month lease will be terminated on September 30 to make way for food/beverage, or retail concessions. The gallery is near the food court and sells paintings, sculptures, jewelry, pottery, photography, and glass art.
“So the reason that it’s happening is just the Boise Airport has experienced tremendous passenger growth over the years and we’ve identified that we just need additional space for food/beverage, retail for our passenger traffic that’s coming through,” Briggs said.
BoiseDev reported in December that the airport was looking for new vendors to manage its food/ beverage, and retail operations as the current 10-year concessions contract sunsets in 2024. The airport is now soliciting requests for proposals for concessions — part of that RFP for the master concessionaire agreement included the Art Source Gallery spot.
Briggs said the Art Source spot was a good candidate to be included in the RFP because the airport needed space in the terminal, it is near the food court, and it is next to another unleased space.
“It‘s adjacent to another unleased space to where that space could be created into a larger concept,” he said. “But we just needed to utilize the additional space for food/beverage and retail.”
Briggs said the latest master concessionaire contract for food/beverage, and retail will start on October 1.
“Extremely upset”
Lisa Bower, the manager of the airport Art Source Gallery, received news a few months ago that they would need to vacate this property. Bower said the team was “extremely upset.”
“We were very sad. We’ve been here for 20 years,” she said. “This place is a little oasis for passengers to come in, relax, enjoy, find wonderful art and great gifts for themselves or their friends and family. So we are extremely sad to have to leave this spot.”
Bower said there are eight to 10 working artists at the Boise Airport gallery — adding that she and her fellow artists will find a way to work at the downtown location.
Art Souce Gallery’s other location is at 1516 W Grove St. in Downtown Boise.
