What: Three years after opening, Shinsegae Duty Free is a victim of the collapse in inbound and outbound tourism driven by the pandemic.

Why is it important: The premises will be converted to expand Shinsegae Department Store.

Shinsegae Duty Free’s full-year revenues in 2020 slumped -45.9% to KRW 1 693 billion (USD 1 53 billion). While downtown duty free sales held up better than the disastrous airport business (down by just -22%  year-on-year in Q4 compared with an overall -47.5% fall), that result was spurred almost entirely by a resilient group daigou (Chinese personal shoppers) channel. Shinsegae Duty Free’s flagship store in Myeong-dong will continue to serve that business.

Shinsegae invested around KRW 75 billion (USD 69 million at the time) in opening the 13 350 sqm store in 2018 amid buoyant times for South Korea’s duty free industry.

Shinsegae Duty Free to close Gangnam store in July