Shinsegae’s Starfield Suwon set to open this year to compete with rivals

A rendering of Starfield in Suwon in the Seoul metropolitan area [Photo provided by Shinsegae Property]

Shinsegae Group, one of South Korea’s biggest department store operators, is expected to open its popular shopping mall franchise Starfield in Suwon in the Seoul metropolitan area by the end of this year.

Dubbed as Starfield Suwon, the massive shopping mall is set to be even larger than the current largest mall in the city, Lotte Shopping Co.’s Lotte Mall Suwon, with an additional 100,000 square meters in size.

Once completed, Starfield Suwon is expected to engage in fierce competition with existing retail names in the region, including Lotte Shopping’s Suwon department store and AK Plaza Suwon.

According to sources on Monday, Starfield Suwon is currently under construction in Jungja-dong, Suwon, with a gross floor area of 331,000 square meters, spanning eight floors underground and eight floors aboveground. Starfield Suwon is the fifth shopping mall under the Starfield brand, following those in Hanam, Goyang, Coex Mall and Anseong. It is also the third largest in size, trailing only Hanam and Goyang.

Compared with other Starfield malls that are located slightly away from the city center, Starfield Suwon is in the heart of western part of the city, just 500 meters away from Hwaseo Station, one stop away from Suwon Station on the subway.

Plans are also underway to construct a direct passageway connecting the subway station and the Starfield building upon completion. Along with the Line 1 subway network, the upcoming construction of the Hwaseo Station on the Shinbundang Line is scheduled to start construction next year, will provide better accessibility to the shopping mall.

The new mall is expected to house a wide range of facilities, including a large food court, an aqua field, a sports center, a movie theater and a pet park, as well as a library like the one currently operating at Coex Mall in Seoul. Suwon, with a population of over 1.2 million, is the most populous city in Gyeonggi Province and the large number of nearby universities, including Sungkyunkwan University, Kyung Hee University, Ajou University, Suwon University and Suwon Women’s University, contributes to the city’s high proportion of young people.

The arrival of Starfield Suwon has put Lotte Mall/Lotte Department Store and AK Plaza on high alert, as the three malls are located within two kilometers of each other. Lotte Department Store Suwon, located in Kwonseon-gu, the largest transportation hub in the southern region of Gyeonggi Province, is currently undergoing a significant renewal and is expected to reopen in February next year. The department store currently has a gross floor area of 234,700 square meters, including the department store and the mall, with an operating area of 72,700 square meters.

To compete with Starfield Suwon, Lotte plans to strengthen premium products by attracting overseas brands and enhancing store interior design to increase loyalty among high-end customers in the shopping district.

AK Plaza Suwon, located inside Suwon Station, has no specific plans at this time, but is considering revamping its store and product layout sometime this year. The Suwon mall has the highest sales among AK Plaza’s stores nationwide. The area around the station has a high foot traffic, ranking second only to Sadang Station in Seoul.