Lotte Mall Bellytawn Cheongnyangni to open Friday, first new Seoul store in 15 years

Lotte Department Store will open Lotte Mall Bellytawn Cheongnyangni on Friday at the Lotte Castle SKY-L65 Landmark Tower in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul — the company's first new store in the capital in 15 years, since Lotte Mall Gimpo Airport opened in 2011.

The new mall connects directly to the existing Lotte Department Store Cheongnyangni branch and spans 17,820 square meters across one basement level and four above-ground floors. It will house about 50 brands in total, with roughly 80 percent of them debuting as a retail-industry first, a first in the northeast Seoul trade area, or the largest store of their kind in the area.

The ground floor will feature eight stores making their northeast Seoul debut, including the Seoul flagship of Gents Bakery — one of Busan's three most celebrated bakeries — the first location of Liquor Locker, a full-range spirits shop developed in partnership with Woori Wine, and the domestic premium flagship of global milk-tea brand Chajeeti. A Terarosa hand-drip bar will also open on the floor.

The second floor will be home to Musinsa Bag & Cap Club, a bag-and-hat specialty store opening for the first time in the retail industry, alongside a 495-square-meter Decathlon outlet built around a running-focused concept and the trade area's largest Off Beauty store. The third floor will house the largest Daiso in Dongdaemun-gu and family restaurant Vips.

The fourth floor will see the opening of Fun Square, Bandai Namco Korea's kidult IP goods store, and the domestic flagship of Best Hobby, which carries Japanese figures and plastic model kits. A kids theme park called Bounce and the trade area's largest Haidilao outlet — set to open in November — will also be on the floor.

The basement level, which connects directly to Cheongnyangni Station, will include lifestyle select shop Miniso and home goods brand Nitori. A Musinsa Standard store is set to open in December.

The surrounding area — encompassing the Cheongnyangni redevelopment district, the Imun-Hwigyeong district and the Jeongnong-Dapsimni new town — is expected to see more than 30,000 new households move in by 2030. Expanded subway and bus lines, along with the development of a wide-area rail network including the GTX, are projected to double daily public transit users at the hub to 300,000.

The mall places Lotte Group's intellectual property character Bellygom front and center. It is the first Lotte Department Store complex mall to officially incorporate "Belly" in its name, and Bellygom-themed elements will be woven throughout the space.

Lotte Department Store plans to use the opening as a springboard to develop its Cheongnyangni branch into a third "Lotte Town" in Seoul, after Myeong-dong and Jamsil. The company will improve shopping convenience by expanding the walkway between the mall and the department store and enlarging the connection to Cheongnyangni Station, while also linking services across both venues. The main building of the Cheongnyangni branch will undergo a phased renovation as well.

"We worked hard to build a Lotte Town Bellytawn Cheongnyangni that, while compact in scale, has the content strength to compete with — and surpass — large shopping malls," said Kim Si-hwan, store manager of Lotte Department Store Cheongnyangni. "We will grow it into the premier next-generation shopping landmark in northeast Seoul."