Lotte mall strives to regain trust

Inside the new Lotte World Mall in southeastern Seoul on Sunday afternoon, the atmosphere at last felt like what a mall of its scale should look like on a weekend ― crowded and bustling with people.

For the first time in months, most of the mall’s store clerks were busy attending to a rare influx of customers while many restaurants saw its tables fill to capacity.

After Lotte finally gained permission from the Seoul Metropolitan Government to reopen the aquarium and the cinema complex on Tuesday following a safety inspection, the landmark shopping complex in Jamsil has slowly started to see signs of recovery from sluggish sales and sparse visits.

Before officially resuming normal operations, more than 250,000 people reportedly visited the mall in Jamsil from May 9-11, when Lotte offered free admission to the two entertainment facilities ― revamped with new safeguards such as new leak sensors for the aquarium and soundproof padding for the theater to address its previous sound tremors issue.

Given the long queue of people in front of the aquarium and the crowds hanging out by the movie theater over the weekend, it looked like business at the Lotte World Mall was finally seeing a glimmer of hope of regaining the public’s trust.

Only time will tell whether Lotte can successfully win over the public and shed all traces of safety problems that have plagued the mall since its grand opening in April 2014.

“I decided to come today because admission was free and I live close by. But honestly, I still feel very skeptical about coming here regularly,” said a 41-year-old mother who was visiting the aquarium with her two children.

“I am not entirely sure whether the mall is quite safe yet since it still hasn’t even finished construction. I also feel that there may be more unknown facts that Lotte is hiding from the public,” she added.

Since opening, the mall saw more than 10 safety incidents on the property including leaks at the aquarium, cracks in the concrete floor and unusual tremors inside the movie theater.

As public anxiety grew over the shopping complex, many people shied away from the mall due to safety concerns.

After the aquarium and cinema complex were forced to shut down for safety inspections in December 2014, the number of daily visitors to the mall dropped from 100,000 to 54,000. At the same time, stores’ sales plummeted by 30 to 50 percent, according to industry sources.

As its two central entertainment facilities resume operations, Lotte is expecting to draw 20,000 to 30,000 more people, the company’s senior managing director Park Hyun-chul said Tuesday.

Though most tenants at the mall pinned high hopes that the reopened attractions would help draw more customers to the shopping complex, some remained skeptical about just how many regular mall goers Lotte will end up attracting.

“Indeed, a lot more customers visited the Lotte World Mall over this weekend than before, but it’s too early to judge whether sales will truly pick up in the long run, since many people came because of the free admission,” said Bae Mee-dong, general manager of the Korean restaurant chain Suhadong located on the fifth floor.

“Though there were definitely more people at the mall recently, it was difficult to spot customers holding Lotte shopping bags,” said one manager of a clothing store located on the ground floor. “Lotte may need to come up with new measures to attract customers who will spend money on shopping.”

Meanwhile, construction of the Lotte World Mall is set to wrap up by next year, with the new concert hall and the adjacent 123-story Lotte World Tower scheduled to open by 2016.

By Sohn Ji-young  (jys@heraldcorp.com)