>the retail areas put many American airports to shame.
That's a very, very low bar. The retail areas in American airports are universally horrible, because they're all so ridiculously overpriced. I'm not sure whether it's some special airport tax or what, but the prices for anything inside an American airport are always horribly inflated compared to the exact same thing outside the airport. The only reason people eat anything there is because they're hungry and have no other choices.
By contrast, here in Japan, the shops and restaurants inside stations and airports are all competitively priced. Going to a restaurant in the train station is perfectly normal, and you're not going to get a better price just by leaving the station.