'I thought it was just a road race': Seoul's fitness crowd finds a new arena

"You can do it! One more! Three more in a minute!"

The World Park lawn at Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul, transformed into an outdoor gym Thursday. To the beat of BLACKPINK's "Jump," participants lunged with sandbags, pulled on rowing machines and sprinted through shuttle runs. The event was Day Out, a hybrid sports challenge organized by Lotte Department Store as a warm-up to Style Run, the retailer's marathon now in its eighth year.

Participants completed eight events in roughly 30 minutes — seven standard missions and one bonus challenge. Despite autumn temperatures hovering around 15 degrees Celsius, many competed in sleeveless tops and shorts. Those who crossed the finish line were flushed and drenched in sweat. This reporter joined the challenge, and after pushing a 30-kilogram sled down a 9-meter track, had to stop, hands on knees, gasping for breath. Even waving off the course staff did nothing to slow their encouragement.

Lee Chae-bin, 29, and Kim Seung-in, 31, who entered as a two-woman team, said they had taken half-days off work to compete. "Some people wonder why anyone would do this kind of training," Lee said. "But once regular people try it for themselves, I think the barrier drops — it would be great if events like this happened more often." Song, 38, said a friend had recommended the event. "Being able to do CrossFit-style training outdoors was great," Song said.

The surrounding booths drew steady foot traffic as well. A 45-year-old visitor who came with her elementary school-age son to the F45 booth said her son was too young to join the main challenge but got to try a rowing machine and pick up a free drink. "It was fun to share a different kind of experience with my child," she said. Booths organized around three themes — wellness, sports, and health and beauty — proved especially popular.

Lotte Department Store designed the event to deepen its connection with customers through sport. Fitness communities such as F45, which thrive on sharing workout records and member interaction via SNS, helped spread the word organically — participants promoted the event themselves. The hashtag #DayOut generated a steady stream of content on Instagram.

More than 1,500 teams took part in Day Out over three days from Thursday through Saturday. Despite being held for the first time this year, registration for weekday individual slots and weekend team slots sold out within a day of opening. Visitors in their 20s and 30s accounted for 80 percent of advance registrants, and 40 percent of all registrants were new Lotte Department Store customers.

Lotte Department Store is working to turn the Jamsil area into a destination where visitors can both enjoy sport and shop for related products, linking running communities and specialty stores to its sporting events. The neighborhood suits the strategy well, with active-lifestyle infrastructure — including a baseball stadium and Seokchon Lake — concentrated nearby.

Lotte World Mall in Jamsil has brought in global brand stores including Nike, On Running and Alo, and has since added an Adidas brand center. Lotte Department Store's Jamsil branch opened the first Saucony store in South Korea. Dedicated spaces for tennis and pickleball have also been added. The approach combines product sales with hands-on experiences and community programming to draw customers in.

Sports product sales are rising. From January through September this year, Lotte Department Store's sports category sales grew 15 percent year-on-year across all branches. The growth rate at Lotte Town Jamsil reached 30 percent, outpacing the overall average. During the same period, shoppers in their 20s and 30s accounted for 55 percent of sports category sales at Lotte Town Jamsil.

"We are continuing to proactively identify next-generation sports content in line with the wellness trend expanding across diverse athletic disciplines and lifestyle categories," said Moon Hye-jin, head of Lotte Department Store's retail entertainment team.