Lotte Department Store has recently attracted attention regarding the background of its extensive renewal in the Incheon branch over the past few years. Unlike other metropolitan cities, Incheon is the only area where only Lotte has a presence among the five major department store brands (Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai, Galleria, AK), resulting in relatively less competition among companies.
Lotte Department Store plans to reinforce its Incheon branch's content and intends to attract customers from adjacent areas such as Bucheon and Siheung. Additionally, the Incheon branch is a key facility in the group's long-term development project 'Lotte Town Incheon,' and competition with Shinsegae Group's 'Starfield Cheongna' is anticipated in the future.
According to the retail industry on the 23rd, the Lotte Department Store Incheon branch in Gwangyo-dong has been undergoing large-scale renovations four times over the past three years. In each process, Lotte Department Store invested about a year in branding selection, space planning, and completion.
First, in 2023, the Lotte Mart, which was located in the basement level 1, was closed, and a premium food hall 'Lépicerie' was introduced. This area sells high-quality ingredients, including eco-friendly, vegan, and directly imported products. There is also a 'kitchen closing' service that cleans and prepares the ingredients on the spot as consumers select them. As of now, the Incheon branch Lépicerie has recorded more than 12 million cumulative visitors.
In August of last year, a premium beauty hall was established in the basement level 1. This area features 51 brands over an area of 1,200 pyeong (approximately 4,000㎡), making it the largest in terms of both size and number of brands in the Incheon and Gyeonggi regions.
In April of this year, a premium kids' hall 'Kinder Universe' was created on the 3rd floor with a size of 1,000 pyeong (approximately 3,300㎡). It attracted popular brands like 'Brown Brush Kids' and 'Bene Bene,' making it the first to do so in western Gyeonggi Province, and applied a curved flow design for customers accompanied by strollers.
In addition, the Incheon branch is preparing for an extensive renewal to expand the international fashion brand hall by the end of this year, which is expected to be showcased to customers in early next year.
Lotte Department Store explains that such moves aim to attract customers from areas outside of Incheon, such as Bucheon and Siheung. In fact, new customers at the Incheon branch increased by about 20% last year, and sales from customers outside of Incheon in cities like Bucheon and Siheung also grew by around 10%. A Lotte Department Store official said, 'The Incheon branch is one of the larger stores among domestic locations. We aim to attract more metropolitan area customers through the renewal.'
There are also observations in the industry that this initiative is a strategy against the Shinsegae Group, which aims to re-enter Incheon through 'Starfield Cheongna.' Lotte is conducting a project called 'Lotte Town Incheon' to develop a high-end mixed-use residential complex and shopping town in the vicinity of the Incheon branch in the long term. In this situation, if Starfield Cheongna, scheduled to be completed in 2027, is established, the target customer base may become somewhat diluted.
In fact, Lotte Department Store launched 'London Bagel Museum' at the Incheon branch earlier this month, marking the first in western Gyeonggi Province to attract younger customers. This store is the seventh London Bagel Museum location in the country and, excluding the Suwon Starfield Store, it is the second store opened outside of Seoul in the metropolitan area.
Previously, Lotte Department Store attracted London Bagel Museum to Lotte World Mall in Jamsil in August 2023. This location receives an average of 150,000 customers each month, contributing to the increase in visitors to Lotte World Mall.
The Incheon branch is also a store of great significance for Lotte Department Store. The Incheon branch (formerly Incheon Terminal branch) building originally operated by Shinsegae Department Store under a long-term lease agreement with Incheon City since 1997. However, due to financial difficulties, Incheon City put the terminal site and building up for sale in 2012, and the Lotte Group purchased it for 900 billion won.
At that time, Shinsegae filed a lawsuit to invalidate the sale, but after six years of legal battles, Lotte ultimately won and obtained the Incheon branch. However, during this process, Lotte Department Store was required to sell two existing branches in Incheon (Bupyeong branch and (old) Incheon branch) due to a corrective order from the Fair Trade Commission amid concerns of regional monopoly.
Sales at the Lotte Department Store Incheon branch were around 550 billion won when it first opened in 2019, but increased to about 790 billion won last year. During the same period, its ranking in sales among nationwide department stores rose from 17th to 15th.