From Interior Accessories to Kitchenware All at Once... Visiting Yongsan Livart Style Shop

Customer lounge located in Livart Style Shop at I'Park Mall, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Hyewon, Asia Economy

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] On the 27th of last month, on the 5th floor of Yongsan I'Park Mall in Seoul, at the 'Livart Style Shop', comfortable recliner leather sofas stand out amidst fresh landscaping and sophisticated lighting. This place, like an urban resort space, is a furniture shop. Upon entering, custom-designed interior furniture tailored for each space's purpose catches the eye. Not only the living room, study, and children's room but also the kitchen space are decorated, naturally making visitors want to move this space into their own home as it is.

The Livart Style Shop Yongsan I'Park Mall branch has a sales area of 1692㎡ and displays a total of about 400 types of furniture including beds, sofas, and dining tables. Lee Yonghee, the store manager of Livart Style Shop, stated, "More than 200 customer groups visit daily on average, and among them, over 100 groups engage in purchase consultations." Manager Lee added, "Considering social distancing due to the spread of COVID-19, given the nature of furniture products that require customers to sit or touch before deciding, many visitors are couples and families planning to move or replace their interior."

This store is an urban comprehensive furniture showroom where customers can directly see and touch all products. Visitors can freely open displayed wardrobes or drawers and experience the seating comfort by sitting on chairs or recliner sofas. Customers visiting here cannot miss the dining room interiors that complete a pleasant mealtime. Dining tables of various materials and forms, from ceramics to solid wood, are prepared.

The forest-like interior visible at the entrance of Livart Style Shop also stands out. It is used as a customer lounge with about 20 seats. Customers can easily and quickly obtain interior information at spacious desks equipped with the latest interior magazines and iPads.

Hyundai Livart plans to open up to 50 new stores nationwide this year, including Livart Style Shop and 'Livart Kitchen Plus'. The Yongsan I'Park Mall branch of Hyundai Livart is the first store to open this year as a home furniture exhibition style shop.

Yongsan I'Park Mall reopened on the 10th of last month. Due to policy changes from the duty-free shop opening within Yongsan I'Park Mall, the sales area of Livart Style Shop has decreased compared to before. It was reduced from 5100㎡ to 1692㎡, but it moved from the 7th floor to the 5th floor, enhancing consumer accessibility.

On the 30th of last month, the Livart Style Shop Giheung showroom opened inside the Living Power Center located in Gomae-dong, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do. The Giheung showroom has a sales area of 3636㎡, about twice the size of a typical Livart Style Shop showroom. This showroom sells over 1200 types of furniture and kitchen accessories from Livart, Livart Kitchen, and the American home furnishing brand Williams Sonoma.

Hyundai Livart opens 10 to 20 stores annually. It is unusual that Livart is significantly increasing the number of new stores this year. This aggressive expansion plan by Livart is interpreted as a strategy in response to the rapid growth of the domestic home furnishing market.

Major furniture companies, including Hyundai Livart, are focusing their activities this year on densely populated areas such as urban stores and department store branches. This is because new housing supply is decreasing, remodeling demand for existing homes is increasing, and single-person households are growing.

Manager Lee Yonghee said, "Yongsan is one of the areas where interior demand is rising due to many ongoing or planned reconstruction projects such as Hannam New Town," and added, "We plan to continuously carry out various promotions and events linked to the local commercial district." He also said, "After the COVID-19 impact passes, it is expected that more than 300 customer groups will visit the Livart Style Shop Yongsan I'Park Mall branch daily."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.