On the 27th, Hyundai Department Store will open the regionally specialized complex shopping mall 'Connect Hyundai Cheongju' in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. This is the second store following Connect Hyundai Busan, which opened in September last year. The industry is paying attention to whether Hyundai Department Store's experiment focused on small and medium-sized regional stores will be successful this time as well.
According to the retail industry on the 17th, Hyundai Department Store plans to hold a pre-opening of Connect Hyundai Cheongju on the 24th and officially open it on the 27th.
Connect Hyundai is a regionally specialized urban complex shopping mall that combines a department store, outlet, and art museum, positioning itself as a playground that 'connects people, places, and culture.' Hyundai Department Store introduced the new format, Connect Hyundai, last September, as the performance of its Busan store, which opened in 1995, declined and faced a crisis of survival.
Connect Hyundai Busan is a regionally specialized shopping mall where a department store and outlet coexist, featuring well-known local restaurants and fashion brands. As a result, sales increased by 42% compared to the same period last year in the month following its opening. 58% of purchasing customers were new customers, with 44% in their 20s and 30s. Compared to a year ago, customers in that age group increased more than sixfold.
Following the success of Connect Hyundai Busan, Hyundai Department Store changed the format of the Hyundai City Outlet it planned to open in Cheongju to Connect Hyundai. It will be located on the 1st to 5th floors of the Cheongju Central City near the Cheongju Express Terminal in Gagyeong-dong, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju, covering approximately 82,640 square meters (25,000 pyeong).
At the Cheongju store, more than 10 works of French visual artist Philippe Catherine titled 'Mister Pink' will be exhibited throughout the store. Mister Pink, which was previously displayed at the Le Bon Marché department store in Paris, will be introduced for the first time in Korea at Connect Hyundai Cheongju.
On the third floor, a subculture hall combining a space for experiencing games, content, and characters with a cafe will be established. The new concept play culture space titled 'Real World' will alternate between reality and fantasy, and will include 'Action,' which gathers the latest gaming devices; 'Play in the Box,' featuring random figures, capsule toys, and limited edition goods; and 'Illustrast Cafe,' which will display character goods.
The food and beverage (F&B) content will include 'Bread Road,' featuring eight renowned bakeries from Cheongju. Nationally famous restaurants such as Prolla Seongsu, Yeonnam Tomato, and Acorn Dining will also be included. Additionally, brands such as Musinsa Standard, Nitori, Hype2Care, Wiggle Wiggle, and the in-house beauty shop Be Clean will also make their regional debut.
Cheongju, home to 880,000 residents, is a commercial district primarily inhabited by high-income customers in their 30s and 40s, based on the Cheongju Technopolis where major companies and partners such as SK hynix and LG H&H are located.
Major shopping facilities in the area include Hyundai Department Store Chungcheong and Lotte Outlet Cheongju. Both stores are within a 10-minute drive of Connect Hyundai Cheongju, making future competition inevitable. Lotte completed a large-scale renewal targeting families in their 30s and 40s and MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z, born between 1980 and 2004) in the first half of this year.
An industry representative noted, 'Connect Hyundai can be interpreted as a measure stemming from the slowdown in department store growth rates and the difficulties in new openings,' and added, 'I understand that competitors are also working on business focused on regionally specialized small stores.'