Shinsegae Centum City Opens New 'Sports Shoe Specialty Store'

Specialized Hall of About 800 Pyeong... Flagship Store and Full-line MD Focused Layout

Shinsegae Centum City opened an 800-pyeong scale ‘Sports Shoe Specialty Store’ on the basement first floor of Centum City Mall on the 20th.

Sports Shoe Specialty Store.

Following a major renewal in 2023 that completed the MZ generation’s shopping space ‘Hyper Ground’ and the ‘New Contemporary Specialty Store’ for female customers aged 25 to 35, reflecting trends through customer segmentation by genre, this renewal focused on each brand to strengthen competitiveness by implementing high-sensitivity individual stores.

As the population enjoying various lifestyle sports, including the nationwide ongoing running craze, increases, comfortable sportswear styles such as ‘activewear’ and ‘athleisure look’ have naturally permeated daily life, raising customer interest in the sports apparel genre.

To meet the high interest and needs of customers, Shinsegae Centum City created the ‘Sports Shoe Specialty Store’ after about three months of construction, relocating and expanding six brands and attracting two new brands.

True to the ‘specialty store’ concept, all brands that entered were arranged as ‘special’ stores differentiated from regular stores. To compose the interior of the ‘world’s largest department store’ with the best stores, the area for each brand was significantly expanded, focusing on stores with the descriptors ‘first,’ ‘largest,’ and ‘exclusive.’

The six brands that relocated and expanded increased their store areas by an average of more than twice the previous size, focusing on embodying each brand’s ‘identity’ by utilizing the larger space.

First, the New Balance mega store, which operated on the 2nd floor of Centum City Mall, transformed into the region’s first ‘Flagship Store No. 1’ with an area of about 200 pyeong.

The product lineup also changed significantly. In addition to the ‘lifestyle’ product line previously offered at the mega store, it now includes ‘team sports’ such as baseball and basketball, functional daily wear ‘The Track,’ and a reinforced high-performance line, showcasing specialized products that are hard to find in regular stores.

PUMA, which has recently gained popularity among the MZ generation with its retro sensibility, also transformed into a brand total house concept store that offers the department store industry’s first full-line MD.

The product lineup was expanded to include ‘training’ and ‘team sports’ categories, allowing customers to find collaboration products with various famous brands and sports team uniforms.

Additionally, the store underwent renewal for SALOMON, which introduced global premium interiors to Korea for the first time; CROCS and SKECHERS, designed to showcase the brand’s identity and content; and CONVERSE, Korea’s first concept and top-tier store. Newly launched stores include MIZUNO, which exclusively offers the ‘Heritage M’ line and popular models, and the revived Reebok store.

To commemorate the opening, various promotions such as brand-specific discounts and gift giveaways are being held, allowing customers to purchase limited editions and collaboration products that are usually difficult to obtain.

Jung Hyun, team leader of Shinsegae Centum City Mall, said, “We organized the ‘specialty store’ with stores that can be introduced to customers in the region for the first time,” adding, “We will present the best shopping environment with an MD composition that meets customers’ expectations.”