Hyundai Department Store Opens Duty-Free Shop in Gangnam
02 November, 2018
Hyundai Department Store opened a duty-free shop at its Samseong-dong branch in Seoul's affluent Gangnam area on Thursday.
"We expect to generate W670 billion in overall revenue next year and more than W1 trillion in 2020," Hwang Hee-yeon, who is in charge of the department store's duty-free operations, said at a press event on Wednesday, a day ahead of its grand opening (US$1=W1,140).
The duty-free shop occupies the 8th to 10th floors of the department store. It carries 420 brands including foreign luxury labels like Burberry, Ferragamo and Gucci. The 9th floor is dedicated exclusively to cosmetics, offering booths where shoppers try on a variety of makeup kits and products.
Reporters gather for a press preview event at a duty-free shop in Hyundai Department Store in Seoul on Wednesday, a day ahead of its grand opening.
Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton have yet to set up counters there, however. Hwang said, "They seem to be hesitant to open stores in a newly-opened duty-free shop due to a sharp drop in the number of Chinese visitors recently. But we believe they will soon join us."
The duty-free shop is expected to benefit from its proximity to COEX and trendy shopping malls nearby along with luxury hotels and nearly 500 cosmetic surgery clinics, which target medical tourists.
Adding to the glitz, SM Entertainment, one of Korea's top talent agencies, set up a huge multi-space dedicated to K-pop stars in 2015, which has become a magnet for tourists.
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