"Mega Food Market Reborn" Homeplus, Incheon Ganseok Branch Renewed and Reopened

Specialized Fresh Meat and Seafood Counters... Industry's Largest Selection of Ready-to-Eat Products
Wine, Kitchenware, Toys, and Electronics Specialty Zones... 'The Wine Cellar' Showcases 1,200 Varieties
Expanded Customer Experience with Kitchenware and Toy Adventure Land... Increasing Dwell Time

The Homeplus Ganseok branch in Namdong-gu, Incheon, has been renewed and reopened as the "Mega Food Market." Mega Food Market has strengthened its offerings of fresh foods, ready-to-eat foods, and convenience meals, while the non-food sector has been efficiently organized through a strategy of "selection and concentration." Homeplus plans to expand the Mega Food Market to more than 17 locations within the year.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] Homeplus announced on the 17th that it has renewed and reopened the Homeplus Ganseok branch in Namdong-gu, Incheon as a 'Mega Food Market.'

The 'Mega Food Market' is characterized by a significant enhancement of food offerings, including fresh foods, ready-to-eat foods, and convenience meals. The renewal background is explained as a management policy that to overcome the offline retail industry's recession and win against e-commerce companies, large supermarkets must strengthen their food offerings?their strongest suit?to attract customers back to the stores.

Homeplus chose Incheon as the first region to showcase the future-type supermarket. Around the Ganseok branch, large-scale new apartment complexes are being built, and redevelopment of existing housing is underway, increasing the population of the 30s and 40s age group. About 13,000 new households are expected to move in. Homeplus stated, "We judged this area to be optimal for attracting both current and future customers," adding, "We will imprint the newly created brand image of Homeplus here first."

The 'Mega Food Market' greatly increased the proportion of food products. In the past, fresh foods were the first thing customers saw upon entering the store, but now, the 'Fresh To Go' ready-to-eat salad corner is visible right at the entrance. Customers can select ingredients to purchase their own 'custom salad.' To make this the representative space of the Mega Food Market, seasonal vegetables delivered daily are washed and prepared on-site, and menus comparable to those of premium salad specialty stores have been developed with experts using over 30 toppings and recipes. Customers can order salads such as ricotta grape salad and grilled mushroom salad, as well as dishes like Mexican pulled pork panini and mushroom truffle cream soup according to their preferences. Prices range from 1,980 to 5,980 KRW, making them competitive compared to salad specialty stores.

Homeplus Mega Food Market Ganseok Branch 'Montblancje'.

Right next to it, the bakery 'Montblanger' has opened together with a caf?. It has been remodeled so that customers can pick various types of bread themselves by carrying a tray, just like in a professional bakery. They offer 13 types of healthy bread, including traditional French bread 'Campagne' slowly baked using natural fermentation starters. The caf?-style dessert section has also been strengthened with about 10 types of sliced cakes and mousse. The cooked bread corner is differentiated with Italian pizza ciabatta and premium croquettes.

Following the home baking trend, frozen dough products have been introduced, including nine items such as signature croissants, baguettes, and cinnamon rolls. Customers can also purchase coffee from the famous Gangneung roastery 'Park Ichu Coffee.' The Ganseok branch exclusively developed and sells 'Ganseok (間石) Chalbbang,' a rice cake resembling a stone.

Unlike conventional large supermarkets, the Mega Food Market features a ready-to-eat food corner at the store entrance instead of fresh foods. From the entrance, customers can see the 'Food To Go' corner offering over 100 products such as Taiwanese-style king salmon, salmon steak, salmon salad dishes, Japanese-style seafood rice bowl kaisendon, unagi don with a whole eel, futomaki rolls filled with 11 ingredients including sashimi and shrimp tempura, and roast chicken with quinoa made from domestic fresh chicken.

The 'Beomsan Farm' caf?, selling organic milk ice cream and yogurt, is prominently located at the entrance to enhance customers' enjoyment as they start shopping with desserts.

At 'Jeongseong Bangatgan,' a premium mill concept, famous regional rice and whole sesame seeds are polished and extracted on-site. Premium traditional foods certified by traditional food authorities, such as onion salt and chili seed oil made by master artisans, are also newly introduced. The ready-made home meal side dish corner 'Samcheongdong Table' added new menus like barley dried yellow corvina, lotus leaf nutritious rice, and seasonal kimchi such as spring cabbage kimchi.

The fruit corner offers about 120 types of products. The fruit display was completely replaced to showcase a wider variety of fruits in a more abundant state. Tropical fruits like durian, fresh coconut, king mango, and new varieties such as bulsugam and hagyul are available. Strawberries have been expanded to about 10 varieties including Jukhyang, Sukhyang, Alps strawberry, and Vitaberry, adding more fun in choosing. Large-sized Hallabong, Cheonhyehyang, and Redhyang citrus fruits are selected, and high-sugar oranges are exclusively offered as black label products. Recently popular Les Star tomatoes and five types of convenient cup fruits are newly introduced.

The vegetable corner also diversified salad vegetables according to customer trends favoring salads. Indoor hydroponically grown vegetables such as butterhead lettuces, kai pira, izatrix, and frill ice can be found in the 'Smart Farm' corner.

Homeplus Mega Food Market Ganseok Branch 'The Meat Market'.

The meat corner, named 'The Meat Market,' underwent the biggest transformation. Previously, meat products were simply displayed side by side, but now a refrigerated aging room like those seen in premium steak restaurants is installed behind the counter, storing whole cuts of meat before portioning. Customers can find differentiated meats ranging from the highest grade '1++ No.9 female Hanwoo beef,' Jeju black pork, air-shipped lamb, veal (Red Veal), ox tongue, to jamon. The 'Order Made Zone' offers a 'customer-tailored service' where premium black cattle brand '1855' and air-shipped tomahawk, T-bone, and L-bone steaks are trimmed and prepared according to customer preferences immediately upon order.

The seafood corner offers not only king crab and lobster, which have been popular recently due to the 'home party' culture, but also air-shipped Dungeness crab. Crayfish, boasting over 20% more meat content than lobster with a chewy texture and savory taste, is also supplied. In addition to the existing steaming service, a trimming service (5,000 KRW) will be provided. A new 'Order Made Zone' for premium products has been established, where products are trimmed according to customer requests. They also handle fish such as eyeball fish, croaker, and extra-large hairtail and Spanish mackerel. A separate 'Premium Tuna Sashimi Corner' showcases various tuna cuts, from premium bluefin tuna belly to navel and back meat.

Convenience food products are integrated and arranged in one place. About 700 types of convenience foods, from room temperature to refrigerated and frozen, are displayed in the 'Dining Street.' Homeplus gathers and showcases about 70 types of meal kits it sells in a space over 8 meters long, one of the largest in the large supermarket industry. Dining Street includes about 50 restaurant-ready meals (RMR) that faithfully replicate recipes from famous restaurants. Over 130 new products were introduced for this store configuration.

Meanwhile, as much space was allocated to fresh foods, the processed foods, daily necessities, electronics, and fashion goods corners adopted a 'selection and concentration' strategy.

Homeplus Mega Food Market Ganseok Branch 'The Wine Cellar'.

The wine corner adopted a premium strategy. The store named 'The Wine Cellar' offers about 1,200 types of wine. To target wine enthusiasts, about 200 types of premium products are always available. The whiskey corner features about 16 types of whiskey centered on single malts, with prices ranging widely from 10,000 KRW to 35 million KRW. Homeplus explained, "We broke the stereotype that only cheap alcohol sells in large supermarkets." Kitchenware and toys received focused investment emphasizing premium and differentiation. The electronics store transformed into the 'Electronics Lounge,' adding experiential elements and strengthening premium products. Customers can find large-scale stores of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, as well as various brands such as Brahms massage chairs, Cuckoo, Cuchen, Winia Dimchae, Tefal, Philips, and DeLonghi.

Through the 'Back Picking Zone,' Homeplus also strengthened its All-line (a combination of Online and Offline) operations. Pickers significantly reduced the route by picking products ordered by online customers in the store and bringing them to the back. The Back Picking Zone gathers about 700 of the most frequently ordered products.

Homeplus plans to expand the Mega Food Market to more than 17 stores within the year. Renewal work for the Incheon Cheongna, Songdo, Jakjeon, Inha, and Gajwa branches will be completed by next month. To secure the metropolitan market, the Homeplus World Cup branch in Sangam-dong, Seoul will also be renewed and reopened as a Mega Food Market on the 17th.

Lee Jae-hoon, CEO of Homeplus, said, "The first Mega Food Market, Homeplus Ganseok branch, will not only meet customers' expectations with always fresh and delicious food but also establish itself as a space offering rich visual experiences and diverse customer services through category specialty zones." He added, "We will continue to expand such stores to lead the distribution market in the future and create a model that can enhance synergy with online business through bold investments."

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