Lotte Department Store Masan Customers Plead: "Please Don't Close"

As Lotte Department Store Masan Branch in Masanhappo-gu, Changwon Special City, Gyeongnam, is set to close at the end of June, department store customers are requesting that it remain open.

Next to the elevator hall on the 5th floor of the Masan Branch, a Coloring Zone has been set up where children visiting the department store can freely draw or doodle.

The large drawing board was filled with children's drawings and doodles, but in between, there were also "voices of customers" opposing the closure of the Masan Branch.

A customer's letter requesting the continuation of operations at Lotte Department Store Masan Branch.
Photo by Lee Seryoung

Customers left numerous messages such as "Please don't close the department store," "We support you," "The doors should stay open," and "Please don't close down."

There were also farewell messages like "Goodbye, Lotte," "Good-bye Lotte Department Store," and "Farewell, Lotte Department Store."

One customer encountered at the store said, "I've been a customer here since the Daewoo Department Store days, and it's so disappointing and sad that the department store is closing overnight."

Another customer said, "If Lotte Masan Branch disappears, only Shinsegae Department Store will be left in Masan," adding, "If Shinsegae also closes, there will be no department stores left in Masan, and that would be really upsetting."

A customer's letter requesting the continuation of operations at Lotte Department Store Masan Branch.
Photo by Lee Seryoung

A fish market vendor said, "Customers who visit the department store often shop at the market right next door or eat at the restaurants," and added, "Lotte Department Store and we have lived side by side for decades, so the sudden news is shocking and very worrying."

An employee of one of the tenant stores said, "Except for a few who are fortunate enough to be transferred to the Changwon Branch, most of us are busy looking for new jobs and sighing over concerns about reemployment," and appealed, "Honestly, it's devastating to see our workplace disappear overnight."

Coloring Zone set up next to the elevator hall on the 5th floor of Lotte Department Store Masan Branch.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

Lotte Department Store Masan Branch, which took over the former Daewoo Department Store in 2015 and reopened after renovations, has been struggling with sluggish sales, recording 74 billion KRW in sales last year.

As a result, the Lotte Shopping Department Store Division decided to close the Masan Branch, which had the lowest sales performance among all stores nationwide, on June 30 this year.

Amid concerns that the closure will have various impacts not only on tenant stores, restaurants, and other businesses inside the department store but also on nearby fish markets, Burim Market, Odong-dong, and Changdong commercial districts, Changwon City is operating a "Mobile Job Center" in cooperation with public institutions to support job searches for tenant store owners and employees.

The Mobile Job Center is jointly operated by the Changwon Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Changwon Center of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, the Masan Women's New Work Center, the Masan Women's Human Resources Development Center, and the Gyeongnam University Job Plus Center.

From the 28th to the 30th, for three days, the center is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Culture Center on the 8th floor of the Masan Branch, providing reemployment support, customized job training, information on start-ups and closures, and various professional consultations.

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