Lotte Department Store Busan Gwangbok Branch Business Suspension Is it bad news for the recovery of the original downtown business district?

Anxiety about the employee “I hope it has become a reality”… There is no big disturbance, but keep an eye on the situation
Civic group “I don’t have a tower, I just take profits… No more pawns by merchant employees”

As the city of Busan decided not to extend the temporary use approval period for Lotte Department Store Busan Gwangbok Branch, Aqua Mall, and Entertainment Building on the 31st, attention is focused on the impact it will have on the local economy.

With this decision by the city of Busan, the operation of the Lotte Department Store Gwangbok branch will become illegal from June 1.

In order to reduce confusion due to extension or non-approval of temporary use approval, Lotte has set June 1 as a temporary regular holiday for the department store Gwangbok branch.

The problem is that from June 2nd, all commercial facilities in Lotte Tower, including the department store building, must be closed.

About 800 stores, including department stores, are expected to suffer damage due to business suspension, and about 3,000 employees are at risk of losing their jobs.

Lotte Department Store’s Gwangbok branch employees and subcontractors’ employees have not been shaken so far, but they are closely monitoring the situation in the future.

One of the employees showed anxiety, saying, “I did, but I didn’t know that (the suspension of business) would become a reality.”

This measure is also expected to affect the recovery of the original downtown business district around the Lotte Department Store Gwangbok branch.

Recently, the real estate market in the original downtown is booming due to the redevelopment of the North Port, and there is a concern that this sudden incident is pouring cold water in a situation where the recovery atmosphere of the original downtown commercial area is revived due to the abolition of social distancing.

If the Lotte Department Store Gwangbok branch closes, it is expected to be a bad news for Jagalchi Market, Gwangbok-ro Shopping Mall, and Nampo-dong Underground Shopping Mall due to a decrease in floating population.

Civic groups blamed Lotte for the incident.

The Busan Gyeongnam Future Policy issued a statement on the same day, demanding that “the city of Busan refuse to extend the temporary use authorization for Lotte Tower’s department store building.”

Busan-Gyeongnam Future Policy said, “If you look at the official document for the extension approval of the temporary use approval for the Lotte Department Store Gwangbok branch obtained through the request for information disclosure, the city has been lukewarm for 22 years (the first construction of the building for the first time), such as ‘requesting to expedite the construction of the tower building above ground’ every time it is extended. Based on permission), it ended up as ‘Lotte Tower without a tower'”, he pointed out.

“Lotte must build the Lotte Tower, which will become a landmark of Busan, as soon as possible to meet the needs of the local community,” said the Busan Metropolitan Government. should not be tolerated,” he said.

A Lotte Shopping official said, “We have a clear will to build Lotte Tower. We will do our best to allow the city to extend the temporary use approval.”

/yunhap news