How do Korea’s department stores attract younger customers?

Department stores struggling to sustain customers amid waning popularity of brick and-mortar retailers are undergoing renovation for a younger, practical and neighborly atmosphere.

Shinsegae Department Store late last month has reopened the Hall B building of its Yeongdeungpo location in Seoul after completing the first renovation in 10 years to fill the entire building with lifestyle goods, furniture and white goods.

It is the first time a local department store devoted an entire building for living goods.

The revamped Shinsegae Yeongdeungpo store has hosted 90 living goods brands, up 40 percent from earlier, on a combined area of 70 percent larger than before. With the offering of various brands like Portmeirion, Royal Copenhagen and Le Creuset, the store since the reopen on Oct. 25 has earned almost tripled revenue from last year at Hall B.

The department store chain’s location in Daegu moved its luxury goods shops to the fifth floor that conquers a larger space of 16,500 square meters in total from the smaller first floor, which shares the space with bus terminal.

Its revenue since the renovation grew by 30 percent per year for the past three years. The change of the store’s main floor to the fifth, the center of the nine-story building, has driven revenue increase.

Hyundai Department Store also broke out of the norm by shifting floor features. It placed cafes and restaurants on the ground floor, normally reserved for luxury foreign brands, for more appeal to young customers.

Its location in Cheonho-daero, Gangdong-gu, Seoul remodeled its first floor with the food and beverage zone dubbed The Lounge to host restaurants and cafes including La Grillia and Coffee@Works on one eighth of the space.

The Hyundai Cheonho store also installed glass walls for the restaurants on the first floor, a rare sight in department store institutions. Hyundai Department Store will employ the feature onto other locations.

“Adding restaurants and cafes on the first floor helped to lure more 20s and 30s into the department store,” said a store official.

(Source: Pulse News)