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Hyundai Department wins Incheon International Airport concession

Hyundai Department

Hyundai Department Store’s fledgling duty-free name joins the South Korea’s main gateway Incheon International Airport by winning a fashion and miscellaneous concession opening after a tight race against the country’s majors Lotte, Shilla and Shinsegae.

SEE ALSO : Incheon International Airports’s duty free store auction fails to attract tenders

Shinsegae must yield its location by failing to extend its permit.

Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) said on 9th March that it chose preferred bidders for three duty-free concessions in zone DF3, DF4 and DF7 of Terminal 1 – Hotel Shilla, Sinsegae and Hyundai Department Store.

Hyundai Department Store won the hottest offering of the fashion/miscellaneous concessions in zone DF7, beating three big contenders of Hotel Shilla, Hotel Lotte and Shinsegae. The modest liquor/tobacco concessions in DF3, DF4 zones went to Hotel Shilla and Hotel Lotte, respectively.

Hyundai Department Store is presumed to have put up the highest bid to win the lucrative airport location, currently run by Shinsegae. The retail giant has so far operated only inner-city travel retail stores in Seoul.

With the latest addition, Hyundai Department Store is planning to make efforts to create synergy between inner city shops and airport location to stay competitive in the cut-throat market.

The new business requiring high rent at a time air traffic is at standstill over virus scare may not be a blessing for the retail company that incurred an operating loss of 72 billion won (US$60.1 million) last year. In 2018, Hotel Lotte closed down some outlets at the airport due to high rent three years after it won the bidding race with the highest bid.

The actions for the cosmetics/perfume concession (DF2) and the fashion/miscellaneous (DF6) that were cancelled due to low demand will be rescheduled.

Shinsegae is considering bidding for other concessions. It now has duty-free spaces for fashion/miscellaneous in DF7, cosmetics/perfume in DF1 and fashion/leather in DF5, together with departure shops.

SEE ALSO : Korean tourism industry affected by Covid-19

Three concessions for small and medium enterprises (SME) in DF8, DF9 and DF10 zones went to The Grand Daegu Hotel, City Plus and Entas Duty Free.

(Source: Pulse News)