Convenience Stores Stay Open During Chuseok Amid Rising 'Honchu-jok' Trend

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Emart24 announced on the 28th that the proportion of franchise stores not operating on Chuseok Day this year decreased to 27.7% of the total. This is a 7.3 percentage point drop compared to last year.

Emart24 operates a differentiated franchise model where business owners can choose the number of business days and operating hours without conditions when signing the franchise contract. Accordingly, the annual proportion of Emart24 stores not operating on Chuseok Day showed an increasing trend: 24% (597 stores) in 2017, 32% (1,077 stores) in 2018, and 35% (1,446 stores) in 2019.

However, this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with people refraining from visiting their hometowns and an increase in "Honchu" (spending Chuseok alone) and "Homchujok" (spending Chuseok at home), only 27.7% (1,374 stores) of all franchise stores decided to close on Chuseok Day to capture the Chuseok sales surge.

An Emart24 official said, "Unlike before, the decrease in the proportion of franchise stores closed on Chuseok Day this year seems to be because more franchise stores decided to operate normally to boost sales, considering Chuseok as an extension of the weekend."

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