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Lotte Department Store Sogong-dong main branch. (Photo=Lotte Shopping) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Paul Lee] Lotte Department Store Masan branch will be closed at the end of June.
According to the industry on the 23rd, Lotte Department Store recently decided to close its Masan branch internally.
The Masan branch was re-branded by Lotte in 2015 after acquiring Daewoo Department Store.
At the time of the acquisition, the Masan branch sold its real estate to KB Asset Management and has rented and operated the building. However, KB Asset Management recently requested to empty the building for development reasons, and decided to close the business.
KB Asset Management plans to redevelop the building in the future to create new business opportunities.
The Masan branch is said to have the lowest sales among Lotte Department Store's 32 stores, with sales reaching only 74 billion won as of last year.
In particular, Lotte had 32 department stores as of the end of last year, more than twice as many as Shinsegae (13) and Hyundai (16), but it has been pointed out that it needs to revise its multi-store strategy as sales per store are less than half.
The move is aimed at improving performance as only four Lotte stores are listed in the bottom five of the country's 70 department stores in sales.
However, Lotte plans to focus on raising its brand value by renewing its existing stores and investing in new overseas branches.
AlphaBIZ Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
