Seoul’s department stores dazzle in festive holiday competition

Christmas has arrived early in Seoul’s department stores, where luxury retailers Shinsegae, Lotte, and Hyundai are locked in a competition to outshine one another and attract customers.

With the domestic economy still struggling to recover, the festive displays went up even earlier this year, starting on Nov. 1.

Shinsegae Department Store in Myeongdong arguably lit the fuse of this holiday decoration competition.

Since 2021, the store has forgone outdoor advertisements for big brands during the holiday season to focus instead on elaborate Christmas decor.

This year’s theme, “Finding Moments of Christmas,” transforms its flagship building into a mystical castle through a striking media façade.

Lotte Department Store in Sogong-dong has drawn inspiration from Broadway, adorning its facade with neon lights reminiscent of early 1900s theaters.

The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido invites shoppers into a fairytale world. Inside the building, the “Moving Grand Theater” installation features a European circus village complete with six hot air balloons floating overhead.

But behind the holiday sparkle lies a more realistic reason for this early revelry: sluggish fall sales.

With the summer heat dragging into September, products for autumn didn’t move as much as expected. Combine that with inflation, and the third-quarter profits for Korea’s top three department stores dropped by 4.8 to 11 percent compared to last year.

Christmas decorations are considered the ultimate sales lifeline, according to a retail insider. Department stores report a more than 10 percent jump in foot traffic once their displays debut, and it’s not just shoppers they’re pulling in — it’s cars, too.

Christmas decorations at The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul (Yonhap)

According to Socar, a local car-sharing platform, parking ticket transactions on its platform within 500 meters of these stores — Shinsegae in Myeong-dong, Lotte in Sogong-dong, The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, Hyundai Apgujeong, and Hyundai’s Trade Center branch — surpassed last November’s total in just 20 days.

Parking-related searches on its platform also rose 84 percent compared to the same period last year.

“When there are big crowds, it takes a long time just to enter the department store parking lot, so people naturally look for quicker and cheaper options nearby,” a Socar official said.

The analysis excluded Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, which unveiled its Christmas decorations a bit later, on Wednesday.