What: Having stopped running its store at Lotte Duty Free Jeju in December, Louis Vuitton will close three more (at the Shilla Duty Free in Jeju, Lotte Duty Free in Busan and Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul) in March.

Why it is important: The brand’s planned withdrawal from downtown duty-free shops in Korea suggests that local duty-free stores may no longer be profitable as Chinese consumers don’t spend abroad anymore.

Louis Vuitton also plans to pull out from the three remaining downtown duty-free stores (Lotte Duty Free, the Shilla Duty Free and Shinsegae Duty Free in Seoul) between October this year and March next year. The Louis Vuitton store at Incheon Airport Terminal 1 is unaffected by the phasing out of downtown operations in Korea. The company plans to open a second store at the airport’s Terminal 2 by 2023.

The decision to close comes as the French brand seeks to focus on airport duty-free shops, especially those in China’s domestic flight airports.

In mainland China, Louis Vuitton plans to have five airport stores open by the end of this year, including its existing stores at Beijing Capital International and Shanghai Hongqiao.

Louis Vuitton to shut downtown duty-free shops in Korea