[On the Ground] One Month After Homeplus Reopened, Product Variety and Customer Traffic Are Still Recovering

[Financial News] "Shopping is no longer particularly inconvenient. The store feels much cleaner than before."
On the morning of the 11th, two days before the one-month anniversary of Homeplus's reopening, customers continued to visit the Homeplus Mega Food Market Yeongdeungpo branch in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul. The food section was located on the left side of the entrance and the nonfood section on the right, with relatively more customers heading to the food section.
Customers were seen selecting meat and side dishes in the meat section. In the bakery section, where a half-price sale was underway, people gradually gathered to browse the products. Promotional signs announcing discounts and the reopening, including "Big Deals," "Unmissable Specials," and "Homeplus is back," were posted throughout the store.
An unnamed customer in her 80s, identified by her surname Kim, was shopping at the store that day. She said, "Most residents in this neighborhood used to shop here, so it was very inconvenient when the store closed," adding, "Since it reopened, it seems that most of the items needed to buy things such as fruit and beverages are now back in stock."
A tour of the store showed that, unlike before, completely empty shelves caused by missing products were rare. Shelves in major categories, including food and household goods, were mostly stocked, and the store generally carried the items needed for everyday shopping.

However, compared with competing hypermarkets such as Emart and Lotte Mart, the number and variety of products still appeared to fall short of previous levels. At some shelves, private-label products or certain items occupied a substantial portion of the display space, highlighting differences in product composition from competitors.
A customer in his 30s, identified by his surname Jeon, said, "There are definitely fewer products than before," adding, "There used to be various meat products on the shelves in front of the meat section, but now there is ice and frozen blueberries instead." He added, "It seems that fewer customers are coming because there aren't many types of products."
Some spaces previously occupied by brands selling prepared foods such as jokbal, or braised pig's feet, were still empty. The floors above and below the market were also quiet. At some brand stores, all fixtures and products had been removed, while the vacant spaces were covered with tarps. The only notices on the tarps read, "We will do our best to provide a better shopping environment."
An employee of an affiliated store, identified by his surname Kang, said, "People say Homeplus has come back to life, but there still aren't many product types or brands, and sometimes the items customers are looking for aren't available." He lamented, "For affiliated stores, the most important thing is for the number of visitors to recover, but it feels as though current traffic is only about half of what it was before."
The common view at the site is that customer numbers have fallen noticeably even after the reopening compared with before the rehabilitation proceedings. At the branch visited by this newspaper, many customers reportedly once waited to pay, with all 10 checkout counters operating. On that day, however, only two regular checkout counters were open.
Homeplus said it generated 116.4 billion won in sales from the reopening of 67 stores nationwide on the 13th of last month through the 30th of the same month. Industry observers, however, believe sales later declined somewhat from the initial level as the temporary surge in demand immediately after the reopening subsided. The fact that the company has also been unable to resume gift-set sales ahead of the Chuseok holiday is cited as another constraint on sales recovery.
Homeplus plans to meet with the union on the 15th, its first such meeting since the court approved the rehabilitation plan. The general union plans to ask management about operating results during the month since the reopening and its ability to repay debts going forward.
A representative of the Homeplus General Union said, "The product selection has become much more complete recently, and there is now little difference between stores in regional areas and those in the capital region." The representative added, "There are currently no major problems with product deliveries." However, the representative noted, "In the past, the product selection was diverse because we also carried nonfood items, but now that operations focus mainly on food, there are times when the number of items is insufficient." The representative continued, "Convenience facilities are also still lacking, so these areas need to be improved one by one to attract more customers."
[email protected] Jang Yu-ha, Kim Hyun-ji Reporter