Luxury demand is surging in southern Gyeonggi commercial districts where Samsung Electronics and SK hynix operate, driving department store sales as expectations grow for expanded performance bonuses for the chipmakers' employees.
According to the department store industry on Tuesday, sales at Lotte Department Store's Dongtan branch rose 25% in the January-to-May period from a year earlier. Over the same period, sales at Shinsegae's South City branch and Hyundai Department Store's Pangyo branch climbed 23% and 20%, respectively.
High-end luxury products led the gains. At Lotte's Dongtan branch, sales in the luxury imported watches and jewelry category jumped 45% year-on-year during the first five months of the year. Luxury jewelry sales at Shinsegae's South City branch nearly tripled, rising close to 200%. Hyundai's Pangyo branch saw high jewelry sales grow 59%.
"More semiconductor company employees are visiting our stores in the southern Gyeonggi area, and the size of their spending is also growing," a department store industry official said.
Meanwhile, the consumer price index rose 3.1% in May, the largest increase in two years and two months since March 2024, according to Statistics Korea on Tuesday.
