Photo: Lotte Department Store at Masan, Gyeongsangnam-do Province. Credit: Lotte Department Store.
As the Seoul 서울 metropolitan area vacuums up people and capital, cities outside the capital region are slowly bleeding away resources. Large department stores are a case in point: In the five years between 2019 and 2024, 83.6% of all closures of department stores and big box retail markets took place outside of Seoul.
In June 2024, the Lotte Department Store 롯데백화점 in Masan, Gyeongsangnam-do Province 경상남도 마산 shut down after distinguishing itself as the worst-performing major department store in the country. Even South Korea’s second largest city, Busan 부산, has not been spared, with two of its largest department stores - Lotte Department Store in Centum City 센텀시티 and NC Department Store in Seomyeon 서면 - closing in the past two years.
Department store closures have ripple effects on the surrounding retail market. Masan Fish Market 마산어시장, located across the street from the Lotte Department Store, was largely empty even as the lunar new year holiday approached. A coffee shop near the department store reportedly lost 40% of its sales year-over-year.