The 555m tall Lotte World Tower is expected to open in Seoul shortly after safety concerns halted the project back in June.

 

The Metropolitan Seoul Government says that provided it passes a final series of safety inspections, the second tallest building in the World after the Burj Dubai will be open for business in the southern Seoul Chamshil area of Gangnam.

 

This will also mark the phased opening of one of Asia’s largest central city downtown duty free stores, covering 16,000sq m when Phase 2 opens at the end of 2016.

 

The original June 2014 opening has been severely delayed until now, due to major concerns when a large sinkhole opened up nearby on the ground level.

 

Initially the construction and sheer weight of the Lotte World Tower was initially blamed for this, but engineers have since given the building a clear bill of health after it was discovered that sub-standard building materials had been used in a separate construction unrelated to the Tower.

 

The result is that last week the City and Mayor’s office ordered a 10-day inspection period for by experts and journalists to scour the building, after which final approval to open is expected to be given.

 

 

[An artist’s impression of how the Lotte World Tower might look when it is fully open in 2016].

 

SAFETY CONCERNS

Safety concerns were naturally high when the sinkhole was discovered, coming so quickly after the national disaster when the MV Sewol ferry sank back in April, costing more than 300 lives. Added to that was the earlier concern voiced over some eight accidents at the construction site, including two tragic deaths.

 

The current Phase 1 opening will consist of 11,000sq m and Phase 2 an additional 5,000sq m. The Lotte World Tower shop Phase 1 will open on the eighth floor-building annex next to the Tower building and then expand to the tower building, where it will also cover the corresponding 8th and 9th floors on the main Tower building.

 

Lotte Duty Free will add two 2,500sq m retail floor areas in the Tower block to the Phase 1 shop, with each store covering 8,000sq m. The Lotte Avenue department store will be located on the annex building’s 1st to 6th floors.

 

The Lotte World Tower duty free shop will replace the company’s nearby Lotte World duty free store, which is located in the Lotte World hotel, shopping and theme park complex. The latter store will close as soon as Lotte World Tower shop opens and the space that remains will be returned to the Lotte World department store for use as additional retail space.

 

The Lotte World duty free shop is Lotte Group’s second largest downtown store after its flagship downtown store. It serves Korean customers living in the Gangnam area, along with Chinese group tours. Duty free sales at Lotte World reached around $300m in 2013, showing an 18.5% increase compared with the previous year.

 

The Lotte World Tower shop retail layout is designed to cater to local Korean residents and Chinese group tours. With additional floor space available, Lotte plans to display a wider range of merchandise for each brand than has been possible within its Lotte World store.

 

 

Lotte Duty Free’s main downtown duty free shop in Seoul (TRB ©).

 

 

AIMING AT CHINESE CUSTOMERS

“The Lotte World Tower shop corridors will be wider for Chinese tour groups and we will expand the luxury brand displays,” explained Kim Joon Soo, Merchandising Division Managing Director at Lotte Duty Free.

 

“We will increase space for Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Hermès, Chanel, Prada, Gucci and others. We want their boutiques to be more spacious to cater to Chinese customers wanting a good shopping experience.

 

“We will display a full range of products. We are asking luxury brands to display their full line – for example, for Cartier to show their full bridal display. We will offer about 100sq m to 150sq m extra space to top brands on top of their existing space.”

 

The Lotte World Tower store has been designed by RTKL. As part of its brief, Lotte asked the Los Angeles-based company to create a feeling of luxurious comfort as customers enter the store.

 

 

Another shot of the main downtown Lotte duty free store in Seoul. (TRB ©).

 

 

OPEN SPACE DESIGN…

A 3.4-metre ceiling height is being used in the Lotte World Tower store to create a feeling of spaciousness. Chiffon and indirect lighting will be used to create an effect of ‘the sun shining through white clouds’. Other features will include a large number of HD TV screens located around the store, giving details of products and special promotions.

 

Customers will be able to enter the Tower duty free store through several entrances on each of the two floor levels. Three sets of escalators are also being installed to connect the two duty free shop floors.

 

This will also connect with two sets of escalators connecting the annex building basement floor level, which has a station entrance for the Seoul subway system.

 

“There will be a central atrium in the annex building connecting all floors in the department store and duty free store,” Kim said. “Chinese people like atriums as they give a spacious feeling; so we need more retail space, which is why we will use two floors in the adjacent Tower block.”

 

TOP IMAGE: Celebrities sell. Popular local Korean pop star celebrities are very popular with Lotte’s younger customers – including Chinese.