Permanent Pop-ups and Expanded F&B Boost Dwell Time and Sales

"I don't come here with a specific purchase in mind. I come often because I can spend the whole day indoors when it's cold outside."
On the afternoon of the 21st at the I'PARK Mall Yongsan Branch in Seoul, the mall was packed with people in their teens and 30s visiting with friends and partners, even though the weekday lunch hour had already passed. Mr. Kim (35) and Ms. Lim (34), who came from Gwangmyeong, said, "We don't have a car yet, so when it's hot or cold, we often come to I'PARK Mall because it's easy to get to for dates." They added, "We first came when Pop Mart held a pop-up for Labubu, which was trending at the time. Since then, we like that we can always find gacha and other content that are popular at the moment."
Among the nine floors of the I'PARK Mall Yongsan Branch, the most crowded area is the third-floor Dopamine Station. This zone, which draws around 30,000 visitors a day, was created with the idea of bringing together content that is rarely seen in traditional department stores. It houses My Nintendo Store, merchandise based on popular characters and animation IPs such as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen, and custom keyboard shops, all targeting so-called "taste-driven" consumption.
Ms. Lee (24) said, "I love Animal Crossing, so I came to check out the related character goods," and continued, "A few years ago, Nintendo only ran temporary pop-ups in Korea, so you had to wait for hours to buy merchandise. Now that there is a permanent store, it's much easier to purchase officially licensed products," she said with satisfaction.
On the sixth floor, I'Park Mall also hosts the Bandai Namco Korea Store, the largest gacha shop in the country, as well as a café created in collaboration with Studio Ghibli, both designed to capture demand from dedicated fans.
By making pop-ups for enthusiasts a permanent feature and significantly expanding its food and beverage (F&B) offerings, I'Park Mall has built a structure that encourages longer stays and has grown rapidly in recent years. When it first opened in the early 2000s as a pioneer of mixed-use malls, it mainly functioned as a combined space for shopping, cinemas, and a supermarket. More recently, however, it has sought to highlight what offline channels can uniquely offer by specializing dedicated pop-up zones and unveiling new content every week. As a result, from April 2022 through December 2025, it has recorded year-on-year monthly sales growth for 45 consecutive months.
This stay-focused model is spreading across offline retail channels. Lotte World Mall in Jamsil increased the number of pop-up locations from just three in 2021 to around 50 in 2024, and last year it hosted a record of more than 400 pop-up events. The "Nintendo POP-UP STORE in SEOUL" held at the World Mall Atrium in November and December last year drew over 2,000 customers registering to queue on the first day alone. Thanks to this strategy, the number of visitors to Lotte World Mall in 2025 is up 131% compared with 2021.
When the reporter visited Lotte World Mall on the evening of the 16th, almost every restaurant had a waiting line, and there were no empty seats left in the large food court tucked away on the first basement level. Ms. Jeon (23) said, "I originally came with a friend because there was supposed to be a Du Jjon Ku pop-up that uses fresh cream instead of kadaif, but it was sold out, so we decided to have dinner instead," adding, "These days, most of the fun-looking pop-ups I see on Instagram seem to be held at malls."
As offline retail channels shift their focus from transaction value to visit frequency and dwell time, the atmosphere in department stores is also becoming more dynamic.
An industry insider noted, "Department stores are no longer just places to sell products. They are evolving into 'stay-all-day malls' that combine shopping, dining, and content," and added, "In this changing environment, strengthening new content will be a key competitive edge for survival."
localplace@fnnews.com Kim Hyeonji Reporter