As Hyundai Department Store has recently broken ground on Gwangju's first mega mixed-use shopping mall, "The Hyundai Gwangju," incumbent local department store operators Shinsegae and Lotte are showing different responses. While Shinsegae Gwangju is signaling a head-on match with a large-scale mixed-use development and aggressive brand recruitment, Lotte Gwangju is taking a wait-and-see approach without laying out a clear renewal plan.
According to the retail industry on the 14th, Shinsegae Gwangju will bring in French luxury brand CELINE and domestic fashion brand Musinsa Standard simultaneously in April, moving to strengthen its brand portfolio that spans luxury, contemporary, and casual. This will be the first time that the two brands open stores in Gwangju. Last year, Shinsegae Gwangju also sequentially added Italian luxury jewelry brand BVLGARI and U.S. luxury brand THOM BROWNE, taking its luxury lineup up a notch.
The industry sees Shinsegae Gwangju as aggressively recruiting key brands to secure loyal customers ahead of The Hyundai Gwangju's opening. Hyundai Department Store is pushing the The Hyundai Gwangju project with a total investment of 2 trillion won, aiming to begin operations in the first half of 2028. The plan is to transplant the successful model of The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, to Gwangju.
The Hyundai Gwangju, which broke ground in November, will rise with a total floor area of 272,955㎡ (about 82,568 pyeong) on a 32,364㎡ (about 9,790 pyeong) site that formerly housed Jeonnam and Ilshin Spinning. The sales area will be 100,890㎡ (about 30,519 pyeong), spanning six floors underground to eight floors above ground, making it 1.45 times larger than The Hyundai Seoul. World-renowned architect duo Herzog & de Meuron took part in the building's design.
Poised to compete with The Hyundai Gwangju, Shinsegae Gwangju is currently the No. 1 department store operator in the city. The Gwangju store has consistently ranked around sixth in sales among Shinsegae Department Store locations nationwide, following the Gangnam, Centum City, Daegu, Main, and Daejeon Art & Science stores. Last year's sales were about 820 billion won, up 1.1% from a year earlier, ranking 15th among 65 department stores nationwide.
Unwilling to easily cede dominance in Gwangju, Shinsegae is pursuing "The Great Gwangju" project to redevelop the area around Gwangju Shinsegae Department Store, including the Gwangju Express Bus Terminal and U-Square, with an opening target of 2030. The large-scale project will put the existing bus terminal underground while expanding the department store and reshaping the district into a mixed-use space with a hotel and cultural facilities. The total project cost is 2.9 trillion won, and the project site covers 101,150㎡. Shinsegae is currently in preliminary negotiations with the Gwangju city government.
While Shinsegae is planning large-scale investment in Gwangju, Lotte still has no concrete investment plans. Lotte Gwangju's sales last year were about 270 billion won, down 2.1% from the previous year. Among domestic department stores, Lotte Gwangju's sales ranking has remained in the low 40s for the past few years.
Opened in 1998, Lotte Gwangju has the largest store site among Gwangju department stores. With a wide range of brands and a Lotte Cinema on site, it held the No. 1 spot in the Gwangju area for a time.
However, in the 2000s, as Gwangju City Hall and the South Jeolla Provincial Office moved elsewhere, the old downtown where the Gwangju store is located gradually declined, while the area near Shinsegae Gwangju in Gwangsan District developed into a new downtown, leading Lotte Gwangju to give up its No. 1 local position. The Gwangju store carried out a full renewal of its food, fashion, and living sections in 2020–2021, but has not regained its past reputation.
Lotte Department Store is concentrating its renewal budget on key stores such as the Main, Jamsil, Incheon, and Nowon locations. In this situation, it is difficult to secure additional investment capacity for the Gwangju store. Lotte Department Store currently operates 31 stores nationwide, but roughly half of total transactions come from a handful of top stores.
A Lotte Department Store official said, "At this point, we do not have additional investment plans for the Gwangju store," and noted, "At the Lotte Shopping level, there are renewal investment plans for the mixed-use shopping mall in the Suwan district of Gwangju, but no concrete plans have been finalized."