Customers shun Lotte World Mall

By Park Si-soo

Sweet tunes were playing and the marble floors were shining inside the Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul.

It was warm enough to stroll without wearing a thick winter jacket. Stores were clean and well-organized, and many displayed signs advertising discounts of up to 70 percent as neatly dressed clerks greeted visitors with beaming smiles.

Various events were underway as well, with piles of souvenirs and gifts ready to be handed out.

The mall celebrated its 100-day anniversary Friday.

Overall, the Lotte World Mall appeared to have everything needed to be considered a shopping haven. But there was one, very important thing missing ― customers.

Not only shoppers, but residents in apartments near the skyscraper still under construction remain reluctant to visit the mall amid concerns about the safety of the high-rise building.

Customers were few and far between. Many of the stores were deserted, creating a bit of an eerie feel.

Sales clerks stood idle, chatting with each another.

“We have 30 percent less customers than we had during the first few weeks,” a clerk said. “I was told that some stores already reduced employees recently to keep themselves afloat.”

Some first-floor stores close to the mall’s entries ― many of which sell popular low-priced clothing brands and luxury cosmetics ― were relatively crowded with customers. Yet deep into the mall, only a handful of people were strolling around.

The situation was little different at the food court on the fifth and sixth floors. Perhaps the duty-free store section spanning the seventh and eighth floors was the most crowded part of the building, thanks to lavish spending of Chinese tourists.

“It’s like we are in the dire straits,” said a restaurant owner. “It’s impossible to stay afloat should this situation continue.”

He said he recently let go of a couple of part-timers to save money.

According to Lotte, the mall’s has about 50,000 daily visitors, about half the number from the first weeks after its October opening.

The parking lot’s occupancy rate is also declining ― the mall is capable of accommodating up to 2,700 vehicles, but less than 500 cars use it daily, down from 800 late last year.

Experts called this collapse unprecedented at a major department store in Seoul, suggesting that Lotte do its utmost to find the exact cause and come up with concrete solutions as quickly as possible.

They said many people seemed hesitant to go shopping at the mall after being shocked by a string of accidents that brought the building’s safety into question.

There is no doubt that Lotte World Mall is the country’s most scandal-ridden construction project in recent years.

The safety of the mall and its associated 123-story skyscraper, which is still under construction, were called into question in the wake of sinkholes that appeared around them last year.

This occurred when the country was suffering from severe paranoia about safety in the wake of the tragic sinking of the ferry Sewol in April that left hundreds of students dead.

The mysterious sinkholes made the mall a place to avoid for many.

That fear was exacerbated by the discovery of cracks on the mall’s floor, water leaking from an aquarium wall and trembling felt in the movie theater. Currently the aquarium and movie theater are not operational.

Lotte claims those accidents had nothing to do with the mall’s safety. The company launched a safety management committee last week, which is tasked with monitoring the safety of the building and customers around the clock.

“Safety is the most important value we pursue,” Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin said during an unplanned inspection of the mall Monday. “I will visit Lotte World Mall once a week to check its safety.”

He said the company is talking with Seoul City officials about resuming operations of the aquarium and movie theater.

Shin said he remains optimistic about the facility’s outlook, claiming that the situation will improve from March due to seasonal factors.

However, it is unclear whether his hopes will materialize given the underlying public concerns about safety.