SOUTH KOREA. Hyundai Department Store today (20 February) opened its second downtown duty free store in the Dongdaemun area of Seoul. The new store is located between the 6th and 13th floors of Doosan Corporation’s Doosan Tower.
The ambitious sales target for the store is KRW1.6 trillion (US$1.3 billion) in 2020 and KRW2 trillion (US$1.7 billion) in three years.
The company takes over the space and licence from Doota Duty Free, which decided to exit the business in October 2019. As reported, Hyundai Department Store was the sole bidder for last year’s downtown duty free store concessions, and agreed a deal with Doosan Corporation to rent the retail space.
The spread of COVID-19 in Korea (82 confirmed cases) was a concern that led to an internal review at Hyundai Department Store about delaying the opening. But the company said: “We felt it was important to follow through with our promise to our customers and do our part to help revive the economy which has been weakened of late. With two downtown stores now in operation, we expect the enhanced economies of scale will help to improve the profitability and strengthen our duty free business operations.”
The company said it would take all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of infection and the opening hours will be reduced by 3 hours and 30 minutes to 12pm-9pm (normal operations are from 1030am to 11pm). Hyundai Department Store will also forego the traditional opening ceremony and other events that could draw large crowds.
Hyundai’s eight floors cover 15,551sq m at Doosan Tower in the popular and trendy Dongdaemun area, which, along with Myeongdong, is a top attraction for both Koreans and foreigners. Around 7 million foreign tourists visit Dongdaemun each year to visit Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Dongdaemun Fashion Town and other tourism sites. The proximity to Myeongdong provides an alternative shopping solution for resellers who found Hyundai’s Gangnam store too far to visit.
In a reflection of the popularity of fashion in the area, Hyundai Department Store has focused on the category by refurbishing the store to provide ‘young luxury, K-fashion and beauty’. The sixth to eighth floors house luxury aimed at younger shoppers, floors nine to 11 feature K-fashion and other Korean brands and the 12th floor is home to the biggest category, cosmetics. In total, 330 brands are on offer at the new store.
Hyundai Duty Free CEO Hwang Hae-yeon said: “The existing World Trade Center store will focus on luxury and target business tourists who visit the area; the new Dongdaemun store will focus on the younger generation in their 20s and 30s. The two-track strategy will help maximise synergies, attracting new brands and increasing the competitiveness of our business.”
