Five retailers submit bids for new downtown duty free licences in South Korea

SOUTH KOREA. Five retailers have submitted bids for the three new Seoul downtown duty free licences open to all companies in South Korea, sources have confirmed to The Moodie Davitt Report.

Five companies also bid for the licences reserved for small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Korea Customs Service’s latest tender. The bidding deadline passed yesterday (4 October).

Lotte Duty Free and SK Networks were among the bidders for the three new duty free shops. They are seeking to reopen their stores in Seoul that were shut down after losing their licences last year.

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Lotte Duty Free’s World Tower store closed for business on 26 June – but could be set for a dramatic return

Shinsegae and HDC Shilla Duty Free have also submitted proposals following their successful bids to open new shops in downtown Seoul last year. Hyundai Department Store Group was the fifth bidder.

The Korea Customs Service said it would announce the winners of four Seoul licences in December. The new stores will raise the total number of duty free outlets in the capital city to 13. The customs agency will also issue two more licences in the second city of Busan and north eastern province Gangwondo.

The Yonhap News Agency reported that the Seoul bids are concentrated at sites in the affluent Gangnam district.

Lotte Duty Free has submitted a bid to reclaim its licence for Lotte World Tower, which it lost in a controversial late-2015 tender. The retailer’s duty free store has been closed since the end of June. It was the nation’s third-largest with US$342.8 million in sales in 2015.

Similarly, SK Networks has submitted a bid to reopen its WalkerHill Duty Free operation, shut down in May after the retailer lost out to Shinsegae last year.

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The Yonhap News Agency‘s report on the bidders for the South Korean licences. Sources have verified the information to The Moodie Davitt Report.

The Shinsegae Group has proposed building a duty free store at Central City, Yonhap News Agency reported. Central City is a mall complex in Gangnam that includes the Shinsegae department store, JW Marriott Hotel Seoul, Central City Terminal and Megabox movie theatre.

Shinsegae said the new outlet could create a synergy effect with its department store, which opened in August after nearly a year of renovation.

HDC Shilla Duty Free, a joint venture between Shilla and Hyundai Development, has proposed opening a duty free store in iPark Tower in Gangnam, one of the most expensive apartment complexes in Seoul. It would be the joint venture’s second duty free shop in Seoul.

Hyundai Department Store Group has proposed a duty free store at its branch in COEX Mall in Gangnam, Asia’s largest underground shopping mall. The retailer said a duty free store would cater to the rising number of travellers in the area. The Korea City Air Terminal, which offers an airline check-in service, is part of COEX.

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Hyundai Department Store’s Lee Dong-ho submitted the company’s application for a duty free licence at the Korea Customs Service’s Seoul branch
Source: Yonhap News Agency
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