"Local Festival Held"... CU Resumes Operation of Mobile Convenience Store After 3 Years

On the 5th, at the Children's Day festival held in Cheonan City, people are using CU's mobile store.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] CU announced on the 25th that it will resume operating its mobile convenience stores for the first time in three years as local festivals, which had been suspended due to COVID-19, are gradually restarting.

In 2009, CU became the first in the industry to introduce mobile convenience stores by converting large cargo trucks, allowing customers to access products and services directly where needed. CU currently operates three types of mobile convenience stores: 3.5-ton, 1.2-ton, and container types. The 3.5-ton truck is equipped with display shelves for snacks and ramen, refrigerated showcases to keep beverages cool, and freezers for storing cup ice. The 1.2-ton mobile convenience store is a specialized instant cooking store with facilities to prepare items like odeng and fried foods on-site, while the container type has a structure similar to a small regular store, featuring refrigerated showcases for ready meals and small freezers, allowing it to carry the widest range of products.

Mobile convenience stores have provided products and services to customers in places where irregular demand increases due to spot events such as university and local festivals. At the Children's Day festival held in Cheonan on the 5th, the mobile store saw about 2,000 visitors in one day, and sales over 13 hours were 2.4 times higher than the daily average of nearby stores.

A BGF Retail official said, “Before the COVID-19 pandemic, CU mobile convenience store requests averaged about 40 cases per year, reflecting high satisfaction from both customers and event organizers,” adding, “We are fully prepared to enhance convenience for customers visiting local festivals in line with the endemic phase and to further help revitalize the local economy.”