'The shelves were empty — now they're full again': Inside Homeplus Express stores [On the Ground]

"A new beginning, a new history! We are the future!"

Posters bearing that slogan were plastered across Homeplus Express stores throughout Seoul on Tuesday. NS Home Shopping completed full payment for the Homeplus Express business unit on June 22, securing operating rights and kicking off a push to restore normal store operations.

At three Homeplus Express locations visited in Seoul that day, previously bare shelves were being steadily restocked. Fresh produce sections near the entrances were piled with seasonal fruit — watermelons and peaches — while freezer cases were packed with home meal replacement products. Stacked boxes of delivery orders lined one side of the stores, and order-completion chimes rang out at regular intervals.

Staff worked continuously to keep shelves from going bare, pulling products forward and filling gaps as they appeared. Price tags had already been placed in the liquor section ahead of an expected delivery. When a customer asked about a particular item, an employee said more stock was arriving the next day and invited the shopper to come back.

By around 4 p.m., residents were streaming in ahead of the dinner hour. Choi Na-ryeong, 42, a nearby resident, said she had stopped coming recently because of the sparse selection but returned Wednesday after noticing that products including ice cream had been restocked. Another shopper, identified only by her surname Park, 39, said she was relieved the store was back in business. "There's no supermarket near my home, so I had to go far to shop," she said. "It's convenient to be able to pick up ingredients I need in a hurry."

Homeplus Express stores currently carry around 3,000 product types, with items from major food companies including CJ CheilJedang, Haitai Confectionery and Harim Industries now being stocked. The product range is expected to expand in stages. Tobacco products, however, are not yet available, as stores must complete a fresh retailer designation process with local authorities.

Significant challenges remain. Growth in the superstore supermarket, or SSM, sector has been slowing, while competition from convenience stores and online retailers is intensifying. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, SSM sales fell 8.0 percent in May — the sixth consecutive monthly decline. Food category sales dropped 8.4 percent from a year earlier, and non-food sales fell 2.2 percent.

Kim Sang-bong, an economics professor at Hansung University, said the immediate priority is to expand the product lineup and stabilize the supply chain to win back existing customers. "Once sales stabilize, the next step would be to consider strategies for opening new locations or expanding the store network," he said.

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