Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Hanssem store to vie with IKEA
Hanssem’s new flagship store in Mokdong, western Seoul
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
Hanssem will open its sixth flagship store in Mokdong, western Seoul, Thursday, to brace for the arrival of IKEA and solidify its leadership in the domestic market.
The nation’s largest furniture company said that the new store will focus on boosting its premium brand image by displaying high-end products to compete with IKEA, which is scheduled to open its first store in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province in December.
“We want to become a premium interior design furniture firm so we opened a new outlet here to set premium brand identity against IKEA,” Hanssem Chairman Choi Yang-ha said at a press conference.
“We will optimize our flagship store to meet the customers’ change in lifestyle and expand our business territories into home appliances like IKEA or other developed furniture companies,” Choi added.
The firm’s move is part of its expansion plan to strengthen its leadership with Korean customers preparing for the arrival of IKEA, which targets small and medium-sized households with do-it-yourself products.
The firm plans to open up to 20 more outlets in big cities in the long term, but did not elaborate.
Hanssem also said it plans to expand its business-to-consumer (B2C) market overseas, especially in China, within two or three years to become the No.1 furniture company in Northeast Asia.
The largest interior design store in Mokdong covers 5,680 square meters, a six-story building with two underground levels.
The firm suggested a key word “furnitainment,” a mixed word of furniture and entertainment, to describe the concept of its new business approach.
“We designed the outlet so customers could stay as long as they want,” spokesman Kim Dong-sung at Hanssem said.
Hanssem introduced its largest flagship store in Busan in 2011. It built its first store in Bangbae in 1997.