Seoul's Biggest Mall to Open in Yeouido

Hyundai Department Store opens the capital's biggest mall on Friday in the financial district of Yeouido.

The mall has an area of of 89,100 sq.m in an eight-story building with no fewer than seven underground levels that will open to yawning emptiness until the coronavirus epidemic eases.

Half of the huge mall consists of an indoor garden and rest areas under a glass ceiling.

Some of the stores will be unmanned to save labor costs. Several stores on the sixth floor will let visitors enter with a QR code and make their own purchases with mobile apps.

But for all its ambition, the mall has no outlets for Chanel, Hermès or Louis Vuitton, the most popular three luxury brands among Koreans, and luxury label addicts are more or less the only shoppers still opening their wallets in Korea.