This year, fierce competition for the "No. 1 in the industry" spot is expected across Korea's retail sector. In department stores, Lotte Department Store Jamsil is closely chasing Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam, the single-store sales leader. In convenience stores, CU is pressing hard on GS25, the top brand by sales. With the gap between No. 1 and No. 2 narrowing, the industry is watching to see whether the No. 2 players can stage an upset this year.
According to the retail industry on the 2nd, Shinsegae Department Store Gangnam retained its position as the No. 1 store by generating the most sales among department stores nationwide last year. The Gangnam store posted 1.6947 trillion won in sales in the first half alone. That was up 2.1% from a year earlier. It topped a cumulative 3 trillion won on Nov. 7 last year, 21 days earlier than in 2024. Its annual sales for last year are estimated to have approached 3.5 trillion won.
Lotte Department Store Jamsil, the No. 2 single store by sales, is also growing rapidly. The Jamsil store's first-half sales last year were 1.5925 trillion won, up 7.6% from a year earlier. It reached 3 trillion won in sales on Dec. 4, 21 days earlier than the previous year, the same as Shinsegae Gangnam. The Jamsil store's annual sales last year are estimated at around 3.3 trillion won.
Shinsegae Gangnam has held the top spot in department store sales nationwide since 2017. It is credited with having the widest luxury lineup among domestic department stores. Luxury-related sales at the Gangnam store account for nearly 40% of the total.
The Gangnam store carries Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Chanel, known as the "three major luxury brands," as well as Gucci, Dior, Bottega Veneta and Prada. These brands subdivide formats into men's and women's boutiques, beauty, shoes, jewelry and kids' lines, and showcase products at more than 100 stores. The Gangnam store also has all four of the world's top luxury jewelry brands: Bulgari, Tiffany, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.
A food hall revamp is also supporting the Gangnam store's performance. Completing its food hall refresh in 2024–2025, the Gangnam store expanded its sales area to 6,000 pyeong (about 19,800 square meters), the largest in Korea. In 2024, it introduced the dessert specialty zone "Sweet Park" and the premium food hall "House of Shinsegae," and last year it reorganized the supermarket inside the food hall into "Shinsegae Market," the largest among Seoul-area department stores at 600 pyeong (about 1,980 square meters). On basement level one, it opened a "premium deli specialty zone," bringing in popular dining brands from Korea and abroad.
Lotte Jamsil, which is chasing Shinsegae Gangnam, ranks among the fastest-growing domestic stores by sales growth. It surpassed 2 trillion won in annual sales for the first time in 2021, and its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the five years through last year reached 15%.
Sales at the Jamsil store are tallied by combining revenue from the main department store building, Avenuel and Lotte World Mall. Because of this, showcasing not only luxury but also mass-market brands across multiple spaces is cited as a competitive edge that allows it to absorb diverse customer demand.
In the convenience store sector, the race for the No. 1 spot in sales between GS25 and CU is expected to be intense again this year. While CU has led in number of stores, GS25 has maintained an edge in sales. However, the sales gap narrowed from 114 billion won in 2023 to 74 billion won in 2024, and to 68 billion won in the first through third quarters last year.
In the second quarter last year, CU temporarily overtook GS25 to claim the top spot in sales. CU's sales at the time were 2.2383 trillion won, 12.6 billion won ahead of GS25's 2.2257 trillion won. It was the first time CU surpassed GS25's sales since BGF Retail's listing in 2014.
Still, GS25 recently won again the rights to operate 12 convenience stores inside Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which is seen as putting it in a favorable position to keep the sales crown this year. The stadium convenience stores attract more than 10,000 spectators per game and generate far higher sales than ordinary outlets. During the postseason, daily sales are said to reach up to 1 billion won.
GS25 and CU are both ramping up their overseas businesses. Last year, GS25 surpassed 400 stores in Vietnam, while CU opened "CU Downtown" in Honolulu, Hawaii, in November last year, moving to cultivate a new market. A retail industry official said, "With the domestic convenience store market nearing saturation, overseas business results will serve as the key variable determining performance."