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.
Galleria to reopen luxury mall
By Park Ji-won
Hanwha Galleria CEO Park Se-hun speaks during a press conference at the Luxury Hall WEST in Apgujeong-dong, southern Seoul, Wednesday. The mall will be reopened today after undergoing renovations. / Courtesy of Hanwha Galleria
By Park Ji-won
Hanwha Galleria, a retail unit run by Hanwha Group, will reopen one of its luxury malls with a new interior, Thursday, to solidify its luxury image with the main goal of targeting rich customers.
“We believe that the new luxury mall will become a destination that offers Asia’s best style and opens a new era of consuming values,” President and CEO Park Se-hun said during a press conference on Wednesday.
“We expect the facelift to help increase sales by up to 10 percent this year,” Park added.
The second renovation in 10 years was done on the Luxury Hall WEST in Apgujeong, a posh district in Seoul.
The firm said it upgraded its status to a “luxury mall” from a “fashion mall,” together with Luxury Hall EAST, seeking to portray an “urban landscape.”
It also expects this change will help transform the image of Galleria to a complete luxury brand.
The firm also introduced VIP rooms for foreigners on its fifth floor, mainly targeting the rapidly increasing numbers of wealthy Chinese customers, according to Park.
The firm sells some 140 fashion brands in the new building and increased the number of its direct imports by up to 30 percent.
The new look, which took some two years of preparation and two months of construction, was designed by Burdifilek, the first of its kind in Asia. Burdifilek is a famous interior design firm based in Toronto, specializing in international luxury retail and hospitality design.
Luxury Hall WEST and EAST were founded in 1990.