Hyundai Livart Opens Extra-Large ‘Livart Style Shop’ in Yongin
Four Concept Spaces Built Around the Theme of ‘Customer Experience’
Hyundai Livart, a total interior company affiliated with Hyundai Department Store Group, opened the ‘Livart Style Shop Giheung Showroom’ (hereinafter the Giheung Showroom) on April 30 inside the ‘Living Power Center,’ a mixed-use shopping mall located in Gomae-dong, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.
Located on the second basement level (Home & Living Hall) of the ‘Living Power Center’ mixed-use shopping mall, the Giheung Showroom has a sales area of 3,636㎡ (approximately 1,100 pyeong), roughly twice the size of a typical Livart Style Shop showroom. On display and for sale are more than 1,200 types of furniture and kitchen accessories—including beds, sofas, desks and dining tables—from Livart’s two brands (Livart and Livart Kitchen) and from two brands of the U.S. premium home-furnishing company Williams-Sonoma (Pottery Barn Kids and West Elm).
The Giheung Showroom offers excellent transportation access thanks to its location next to the Giheung IC on the Gyeongbu Expressway. It can be reached within 30 minutes from the southern Gyeonggi area, including Yongin, Hwaseong (Dongtan) and Suwon, and within an hour from Seoul. The opening of the Second Gyeongbu Expressway (scheduled for 2021) and the Second Outer Ring Road (scheduled for 2023) is also planned.
A Hyundai Livart official explained, “Yongin’s Giheung-gu, where the Giheung Showroom is located, not only offers good transportation access but also has abundant underlying demand, with the commercial district steadily expanding around consumers in their 30s and 40s who have strong purchasing power.” The official added, “As large retail stores continue to move in one after another, the area is being reborn as the largest special shopping zone in southern Gyeonggi Province.”
The Giheung Showroom is designed as four concept spaces built around the theme of ‘customer experience.’ It comprises the ‘For:Rest Zone,’ furnished with comfortable sofas and tablet PCs at the store entrance; the ‘Life Style Zone,’ tailored to customers’ lifestyles with model houses in various sizes (10–30 pyeong) as well as pet furniture; the ‘H.Lounge,’ a customer-experience space where a variety of cultural content takes place; and the ‘H.Atelier,’ where customers can build DIY (Do It Yourself) furniture such as tea tables and interior decorations themselves.
In addition, a ‘shared space’—something not found in existing furniture stores—is also provided. Hyundai Livart plans to lend part of the store free of charge so that customers from nearby areas can hold small gatherings, lectures, home parties and the like. Customers wishing to use the space can make a reservation in advance through a dedicated app (Space Cloud). A company official said, “We plan to allow customers to have a simple meal during their gatherings or to use a catering service.”
Furthermore, an experiential photo zone targeting younger customers in their 20s and 30s will be operated. It will be decorated with different themes by season, such as weddings, vacations and family photos, and shooting outfits and props will also be lent free of charge.
To celebrate the opening of the Giheung Showroom, Hyundai Livart will offer discounts of 10–30% on some 100 major products—including beds, living-room cabinets, sofas and dining tables—until May 30, and customers who visit the store will receive a free eco bag and coaster (cup mat).
A Hyundai Livart official said, “We will accelerate our push into the southern Gyeonggi market by leading with Hyundai Livart’s own differentiated products and content.”