With this year's Chuseok holiday shorter than last year's, South Korean retailers are preparing a range of hands-on programs on the expectation that more people will spend the break in the city. Aiming at families who plan to stay close to home instead of traveling long distances, retailers are filling shopping spaces with performances and exhibitions to draw bigger crowds.
Lotte World Tower and Mall will project a "moon rabbit" media facade marking Chuseok on the exterior of Lotte World Tower from the 24th to the 27th, the holiday period, according to industry sources on the 23rd. At Lotte World Aquarium, penguins and aquarists will greet visitors in hanbok during the holiday. Lotte Premium Outlets in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, is running the first offline pop-up store for the children's YouTube channel Mellow TV through the 27th of this month. The company is also courting families with pop-up stores and parade events, including a "Haribo Happy Grape Garden" and a "Teletubbies Autumn Picnic," at its Gimhae and Paju locations.
Shinsegae Department Store is expanding discounts on theme parks and hands-on facilities that families can enjoy together. Its Centum City store is offering promotions on ice rink passes and admission to KidZania, a children's career-experience theme park. Daegu Shinsegae plans to offer discounts on a trampoline facility and aquarium tickets. Hyundai Department Store's Pangyo store is running a free hands-on program for families called "Monggeul Monggeul Autumn Playground," with attractions such as a maze designed as a space the whole family can enjoy alongside shopping.
Starfield is also decorating all of its stores under a "Chuseok Culture Vacation" concept, with performances and hands-on programs highlighting the holiday mood. Highlights include the "Baudeogi Pungmul Nori" folk music performance at its Suwon and Anseong stores, a "Joseon Parade" at its Goyang store and a fusion outdoor play titled "The Magistrate's Birthday Feast."
Online retailers have rolled out products aimed at the shorter break. Lotte On is selling theme park and water park tickets along with regional tourism packages in a single lineup so families can use them during the holiday. The goal is to capture demand for short trips of one or two days close to home.
Retailers expect the relatively short Chuseok break to lift demand for spending the holiday in easily accessible city centers or nearby areas rather than on overseas or long-distance travel. This year's Chuseok holiday runs four days from the 24th to the 27th, including the weekend. That is shorter than last year's break, which ran a full seven days from Oct. 3 to Oct. 9.
The share of people planning to travel over the holiday has indeed fallen from a year earlier. In a survey of 10,024 people on Chuseok holiday travel patterns conducted by the Korea Transport Institute from the 12th to the 18th of last month, 32.7% said they planned to travel this year, down 8.2 percentage points from 40.9% a year earlier. Among those who planned a trip, 89.9% chose a domestic destination. Total holiday travel is also projected to fall to 30.93 million people from 32.18 million a year earlier.
At the same time, retailers are moving to tap demand from foreign tourists visiting South Korea for Japan's Silver Week, which runs Sept. 19 to Sept. 23, and China's Mid-Autumn Festival, which runs Sept. 25 to Sept. 27. The strategy targets inbound tourist demand alongside stay-at-home content for domestic customers.
Hyundai Department Store is running an exhibition and hands-on K-local pop-up store called "Edit Dept, Neo Local" on the first basement level of The Hyundai Seoul through the 30th of this month. It features products from about 20 brands in fashion, beauty, living and food that reflect the character and stories of regions across the country. For foreign shoppers, the store also provides an English-language audio guide through an AI shopping assistant called "heydi" to convey the stories behind the K-local brands.
Lotte Outlets and Lotte Mall are holding a "Grand Shopping Festa" through the 1st of next month, courting foreign shoppers with K-fashion and other shopping content.
"With the Chuseok holiday shorter than last year, we expect more customers to stay in the country and spend the break in the city rather than traveling abroad," an industry official said. "In line with that, retailers are strengthening leisure and cultural programs and discount promotions aimed at families."
