Duty free shopping has entered a new era in Busan on the southeast Korean peninsular with the 1 March opening of Shinsegae Duty Free’s new 8,595sq m downtown duty free store in the city’s Shinsegae Centum retail complex.

This huge complex is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest department store occupying 293,905sq m and it now houses .

As reported previously, Shinsegae was awarded a new five-year downtown duty free shop license for Busan last year, with the new downtown store replacing its previous downtown duty free shop in the Paradise casino and entertainment complex which closed on 29 February.

 

Located on two floors in Shinsegae Centum department store (owned by the Shinsegae Group), the new downtown duty free store now has 30% more retail space than the previous outlet.

“We opened our new downtown store on March 1 and had the opening ceremony today (March 3),” said Hong Seok Ho, Shinsegae Duty Free’s Director of Merchandising, talking to TRBusiness in South Korea.

“We are using two storeys and we have high ceilings for luxury fashion and perfume and cosmetics, so it feels humongous. Our downtown store feels luxurious, that’s what Shinsegae is famous for.”

 

Most brands displayed in the former store have been given space in the new downtown store along with some new brands.

Goods on display are designed to appeal to outbound Korean travellers as well as the growing number of foreigners, particularly Chinese visiting Busan – one of the country’s main industrial port cities.

“Our target is Chinese and South Korean travellers,” Hong explained. “Busan’s downtown duty free market is still South Korean dominated, but more Chinese cruise liners are coming, so we target South Korean and Chinese customers.

“We had a difficult time with sales last year because of the MERS outbreak, but from January this year Chinese tourists have started coming back and South Korean outbound passenger numbers are growing; so in 2016 we should see some growth.”