"Hyundai Department Store Partners with 57 Local Bakeries to Host 'Our Neighborhood Bakery' Pop-up Store"

Until the 2nd of next month at 13 stores nationwide
Featuring tarts, bread, vegan bread, cupcakes, and more
Hyundai Department Store covers all promotional costs to minimize small business expenses
Also offers opportunities for regular store entry

'2022 Our Neighborhood Bakery × Hyundai Department Store' Popup Store.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Hyundai Department Store announced on the 26th that it will hold a pop-up store event called '2022 Uri Dongnae Bbangjip × Hyundai Department Store' targeting dessert enthusiasts such as bread lovers at 13 stores nationwide until the 2nd of next month. This is to offer customers unique food and beverage content in line with the full-scale reopening of the economy and to help expand sales channels for excellent local small business owners.

The event features 57 small bakery businesses specializing in cakes, pies, chocolates, and more. Starting from the Mia branch on the 13th, the event will be held sequentially at 13 stores nationwide, excluding Apgujeong Main Store, Daegu Store, and Ulsan Dong-gu Store.

Among the 57 participating brands, 44 are brands being introduced for the first time in the department store industry. During the event period, 2 to 5 brands located within the core commercial area (within approximately 5 km radius) of each store’s food section will open pop-up stores, operating product introductions and tasting corners.

Major participants include 'Maison de Tart' (Cheonho branch), a tart specialty store in Jayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul; 'Curvis Cupcake' (Mokdong branch), a cupcake specialty store in Yangpyeong-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu; and 'More Cookie' (Sinchon branch), a cookie specialty store in Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu.

Hyundai Department Store planned this event to provide customized content for the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) who enjoy exploring popular eateries, to help expand sales channels for local small bakeries that have struggled due to prolonged social distancing policies, and to discover capable emerging brands.

A Hyundai Department Store official said, "We selected participating brands solely based on taste and customer response to the stores, regardless of the bakery’s size or fame." He added, "We also changed the event format from the traditional large-scale event held at a single store to pop-up stores of neighborhood bakeries located near each department store, making it easier and more effective for local residents to access."

To discover excellent bakeries in each region, about 30 people including bakery buyers from the merchandise headquarters, F&B managers, and marketing staff from each store participated in planning the event. These employees visited around 300 bakeries, both large and small, near each store over three months to verify product competitiveness and gauge willingness to participate.

In line with the event’s purpose of supporting sales channel expansion for local small business owners, Hyundai Department Store also introduced various support measures. For neighborhood bakeries that feel burdened by participation costs, promotional expenses and pop-up store interior costs will be supported.

Participating companies will also receive hygiene management experience from the department store’s food section. Since early this month, F&B managers have visited participating bakeries in advance to inspect food hygiene management status and provide improvement methods. Hyundai Department Store will provide its own bakery hygiene management manual and, for interested companies, dispatch specialized researchers from Hyundai Department Store Group’s Food Hygiene Research Institute to offer free consulting on overall food hygiene.

To promote the excellence of participating brands, Hyundai Department Store will use its own SNS channels to publicize the Uri Dongnae Bbangjip event brands and produce and release brand introduction videos.

Through this event, Hyundai Department Store plans to select brands with high growth potential and support further sales channel expansion by offering regular pop-up events and official store entry opportunities. They are also considering regularizing pop-up store events at least once a year for interested companies.

Shin Hyun-gu, Executive Director of Hyundai Department Store’s Food Business Division, said, "We expect about 300,000 customers to visit the Uri Dongnae Bbangjip pop-up stores during the event period." He added, "We hope to introduce customers to unique and differentiated excellent local bakeries and ultimately create a new win-win model where large corporations and local small business owners grow together."

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