Hanwha Galleria to open new department store in Gwanggyo

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Business

Tue, October 3, 2023 | 05:47

Retail & Food

Hanwha Galleria to open new department store in Gwanggyo

Posted : 2020-02-27 18:09

Updated : 2020-02-27 18:55

The Galleria department store in Gwanggyo, in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. / Courtesy of Hanwha Galleria

By Kim Jae-heun

Hanwha Galleria said Thursday it will open a new "Galleria" department store in Gwanggyo, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, March 2.

This will be the first new store since the Hanwha Group franchise opened one in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, in 2010.

The department store was originally scheduled to open Feb. 27, but was delayed due to the nationwide outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Hanwha Galleria said the Gwanggyo outlet would be a luxury goods store similar to its franchise in Apgujeong, Seoul.

"Our sales target for the opening year of Galleria Gwanggyo is 500 billion won ($410.7 million)," a company official said.

The new store is the largest among five that Hanwha Group operates. Its total floor space is 150,000 square meters, with 73,000 square meters to be used as a business area from the basement level to the 12th floor.

The building's exterior has a huge rock-layer pattern, and a prism-like passage that winds around the building from the entrance to the roof. The design deviates from the typical department store business practice of avoiding windows, and allows sunlight to shine on every floor.

Traditional department stores have not installed windows so that customers fully focus on shopping and are not distracted.

According to the company, 125,000 granite stones were used to cover the exterior, and this with the glass passage gives visitors the experience of being in a mine buried for long time in a sedimentary layer.

The store's lighting is designed to look like jewels shining in a mine at night, the company said.

The department store was designed and constructed by OMA, a Dutch architectural firm led by Rem Koolhaas, with the concept "Lights in your life." Koolhaas won the Pritzker Architectural Prize in 2000.

The company wants Galleria Gwanggyo to become "the most luxurious department store" in Gyeonggi Province, targeting customers residing in the southern part of the region.

High-end fashion houses like Gucci, Fendi, Balenciaga, Off White and Bally will open stores there, along with luxury watch brands such as Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC and Tag Heuer.

Hanwha Galleria said the luxury brands will be on sale on the second floor in the first half of the year.

The department store will also operate the country's largest VIP lounge on the 12th floor. Samsung Electronics' future-concept "Premium Store" will be housed on the sixth to eighth floors, while LG Electronics will open a "Signature kitchen suite" on the eighth floor.

"Galleria Gwanggyo will become a symbol of a growth engine in the department store business together with Time World in Daejeon," said Hanwha Galleria President and CEO Kim Eun-soo.

jhkim@koreatimes.co.kr