Lotte Department Store Jeonju Branch up for sale ... “Plans to relocate to a new store”

[Financial News] Lotte Department Store Jeonju Branch, the only department store in North Jeolla Province, has been put up for sale. Lotte Shopping has begun the sale process ahead of relocating the existing store as it pursues plans to open a new department store at the site of Jeonju Sports Complex.
According to the retail industry on the 3rd, Lotte Shopping has appointed Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers as its sale adviser and begun the process of selling Lotte Department Store Jeonju Branch. It has reportedly recently distributed investment information packages to potential investors and is looking for prospective buyers.
The sale includes the department store building and a separate parking lot in Seosin-dong, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, North Jeolla Province. The site covers 10,740 square meters, and the gross floor area is approximately 78,300 square meters. The department store building has four basement levels and eight above-ground floors. Since opening in 2004, the Jeonju branch has operated for more than 20 years as the only department store in North Jeolla Province.
The company says the sale is a preliminary step toward relocating to a new store, not a closure due to poor performance at the existing location or a withdrawal from the business. Lotte Shopping plans to open a new department store in the MICE complex being developed at the Jeonju Sports Complex site and move the existing Jeonju branch’s operations there. The Jeonju Sports Complex MICE complex development project involves building a department store, convention center, hotel and other facilities on a 121,231-square-meter site around the sports complex.
A Lotte Department Store representative said, “This sale is different in nature from closing the existing store or withdrawing from the business,” adding, “It is a process of selling the existing Jeonju branch in advance to open a new department store in line with the Jeonju Sports Complex mixed-use development project.”

[email protected] Jang Yu-ha Reporter