[Special Award] Hanoi Lotte Mall Success Story... Time Villas Continues It

2025 Asia Consumer Awards
Asia Economy Special Prize

Editor's NoteAsia Economy awarded the ‘2025 Asia Consumer Awards’ to distribution and food companies and brands that received consumers' love last year. Now in its 19th year, the Asia Consumer Awards selects distribution companies that strive for consumer rights and convenience, and lead the development of the distribution consumer goods industry and trends of the times.

Lotte Department Store was selected as the Asia Economy Special Award-winning company at the 2025 Asia Consumer Awards. It received high marks for establishing a future-oriented shopping mall encompassing both domestic and international markets, providing consumers with a new shopping experience, and presenting a vision for the industry based on achievements such as increased profitability.

A representative achievement is Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi, which has risen as a new landmark in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It is regarded as the 'second wave' that has changed the landscape of local shopping culture. Not only does it boast an excellent location overlooking 'West Lake,' the largest lake in Hanoi, but it also offers everything needed for shopping, including premium brands rarely seen locally, relaxation, experiences, culture, gourmet food, and services, making it known as a 'super shopping complex.'

Lotte Mall Westlake Hanoi is bustling with young customers. Photo by Lotte Department Store

Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi view. Provided by Lotte Department Store

Marking its first anniversary last year, Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi surpassed 10 million cumulative visitors within 354 days of opening, exceeding Hanoi’s estimated population of about 8.6 million. Additionally, in January last year, just 122 days after opening, it achieved sales of 100 billion KRW in the shortest time. Subsequently, in June last year, only five months later, sales exceeded 200 billion KRW, quickly establishing itself in the local market. This performance is equivalent to 400,000 times the average monthly income of Vietnamese workers, which is 500,000 KRW.

With the great success of Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi, Lotte Department Store's overseas business sales increased by 24.6% year-on-year as of the third quarter last year. Cumulative sales in Vietnam from the first to third quarters also rose by 180.8%. Based on the success of Lotte Mall West Lake, Lotte Department Store is considering expanding its overseas business by developing commercial facilities in the Thu Thiem New City of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and scouting additional sites to expand stores within Vietnam.

Visitors are exploring shopping facilities inside Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi. Photo by Lotte Department Store

Domestically, the future-oriented store 'Time Villas,' which combines department stores and shopping malls, continues the success story of Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi. Lotte Department Store transformed Lotte Mall Suwon, which opened in 2014 in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, into a landmark shopping platform representing the region and remodeled it as the first Time Villas store in October last year.

Time Villas Suwon was regarded as the largest renewal project in Lotte Department Store’s history, changing about 70% of the existing area. It was praised as a masterpiece of renewal by promoting a 'convergence-type premium shopping mall' that combines the strengths of department stores and shopping malls, strengthening its position as a metropolitan shopping landmark covering Suwon and the southern Gyeonggi region.

TIMEVILLAS Suwon exterior. Photo by Lotte Department Store

The interior of Time Villas Suwon is bustling with shoppers. Photo by Lotte Department Store

Along with the grand opening of Time Villas Suwon, Lotte Department Store announced future plans for the 'future-oriented shopping mall business' for mid- to long-term growth. Specifically, it presented a goal to invest about 7 trillion KRW in domestic and overseas shopping mall businesses by 2030, building 13 shopping malls including 11 Time Villas stores, and achieving annual sales of over 6.6 trillion KRW.

To this end, by 2030, four new shopping malls will be added in Incheon Songdo, Daegu Suseong, Seoul Sangam, and Jeonbuk Jeonju, and seven existing stores in Jeonbuk Gunsan, Gwangju Suwan, Dongbusan, Gimhae, etc., will be expanded and renewed to convert into shopping malls, expanding Time Villas nationwide. Overseas, based on the successful model of Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi, the shopping mall business will be diversified through new openings and consignment operations.

In addition, Lotte Department Store Jamsil, the largest-scale mega shopping complex town in Korea, surpassed 3 trillion KRW in annual sales for the first time last year and aims to achieve 4 trillion KRW in annual sales by 2027, becoming the first in the domestic department store industry to do so.

Meadow, an artwork by Dutch artist Drift installed at Time Villas Suwon. Photo by Lotte Department Store