SOUTH KOREA. Shinsegae Duty Free is well advanced in its planning for a spectacular new downtown store in Busan next year if its licence renewal application is successful, as confirmed in these images supplied to The Moodie Report.
As reported, the travel retailer is preparing to relocate its flagship downtown store in Busan early next year to the new Shinsegae Centum City, provided the company’s application to renew its licence is approved.
Shinsegae’s Busan downtown licence expires on 15 December. The department store giant gained the licence when it acquired Paradise Duty Free in September 2012.
In the past, licence renewals were an uncontested formality. But since a 2013 law change, licences are not only limited to five years but can be contested. Bids for the Busan licence (one of four that are expiring – the others belonging to two Lotte Duty Free sites in Seoul and one to WalkerHill Duty Free, also in the Korean capital) are due in by 25 September.
Speaking to The Moodie Report in Seoul last week, Shinsegae Duty Free MD Merchandising Team Director Seok-Ho Hong was non-committal on the three available Seoul licences (the company is widely seen in Korean travel retail circles as the most likely challenger), simply saying that the retailer was still weighing up its options in terms of bidding.
“Our first and main goal is to defend our licence in Busan – that’s a must,” he said. Provided (as widely expected) that defence is successful, the Busan business will move in the first quarter of 2016 to Shinsegae Centum City, which houses the world’s largest department store.
The complex also offers numerous entertainment options, including a spa and an ice rink, plus a new building on vacant land (due to be completed in February or March) adjacent to the department store, where the duty free store will be sited.
“That decision’s made,” said Hong. “It will have one and a half times the existing duty free space, at around 9,900sq m. We believe Centum City is the future of shopping in Busan.”
NOTE: We’ll bring you the full interview with Seok-Ho Hong in a special Korean report in October.
