Elevating PHX: CASA Unlimited Enterprise

When Joya Kizer was a student at Arizona State University, she was studying zoology and assumed after graduation that she would work with animals.

Instead, her career took a much different path: She is the president and CEO of CASA Unlimited Enterprises, Inc. a family-owned airport concessionaire at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where her three stores in Terminal 4 help passengers comfortably brave the wilds of air travel.

PHX is proud to showcase the inspirational and successful entrepreneurial story of Joya Kizer and CASA Unlimited Enterprises, Inc.

“I thought I would be a research scientist in a lab,” says Kizer, who has expanded CASA’s entrepreneurial footprint not only at PHX but at airports throughout the country.

CASA currently operates three stores in Terminal 4 at PHX: Lucky Break, Brookstone and the azcentral.com newsstand. CASA, which is a certified Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE), also has joint venture partnerships with InMotion Entertainment, XpressSpa,Stellar Retail Group and SSP America throughout both terminals. In addition, CASA has other joint venture partnerships in Miami International Airport (MIA), Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Kizer’s parents, Yolanda Collazos Kizer and Aaron Silva Kizer, founded CASA Unlimited in 1989 at PHX with the Curious Creatures store. At roughly the same time, Collazos Kizer was the chairperson of the AZ Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s (AZHCC) Board of Directors. Under Collazo Kizer’s direction, the AZHCC embraced a more aggressive business direction and focus.

“[My mother] was such a dynamo, just a brilliant person,” says Kizer.

Interestingly, Kizer started her career in retail with HMS Host at PHX while wrapping up her ASU studies. In late 2001, Kizer officially joined the CASA team to become the store manager of Curious Creatures, where she was responsible for all aspects of the operations, including purchasing, personnel management, cash control, in-store marketing and visual merchandising.

“When I train my team, I tell them we’re in the relationship business,” says Kizer, who says that means that the team should forge meaningful connections with passengers, connect to store landlords and also build relationships with CASA’s partners and vendors.

Kizer says she’s proud of her family’s and CASA’s presence at PHX, noting that the company is likely the only woman-to-woman, second-generation retail ownership on a national level operating in an airport environment.

“It’s such a dynamic industry and symbiotic environment,” says Kizer, who clearly relishes devoting her career to airport logistics, applying her expert skills to the operations, retail, management and longevity of major airport ecosystems.

As CASA’s president and CEO, Kizer does a fair amount of travel, for both business and pleasure––and her love of and interest in animals has not diminished over time. She enthusiastically recounts her experiences raising chickens, pigs and tortoises, among other animals she has had. She also devotes considerable time to her very important job as mother to her two children, Maya and Henry.

For now, though, PHX is proud that Joya Kizer has chosen to use her airport logistics expertise at PHX, America’s Friendliest Airport^®.