Lotte Duty Free Myeongdong Main Store Renovates 'Star Avenue'... Expands Experiential Content for Visiting Tourists

Immersive Experience with the Starium Concept
Featuring the High Five Zone, Large Media Wall, and Experience Zone
Expanded K-Culture Content
Full-Scale Global Marketing Relaunch This Year

On January 11, Lotte Duty Free announced that it has completely renovated and reopened 'Star Avenue' to strengthen experiential content and attract more foreign tourists.

Foreign tourists visiting Star Avenue at Lotte Duty Free Main Store in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul. Provided by Lotte Duty Free.

Located on the first floor of the Lotte Duty Free Myeongdong Main Store in Jung-gu, Seoul, Star Avenue is an experiential cultural space created by Lotte Duty Free in 2009 to promote K-culture to foreign tourists. Through Lotte Duty Free's heritage and signature content, it has offered a wide variety of attractions. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it established itself as a must-visit destination in Korea, drawing about 2.9 million visitors annually.

After about four months of refurbishment, Lotte Duty Free held the grand opening of the renewed Star Avenue. The core of this renewal is an immersive exhibition experience under the 'STARIUM' concept. 'Starium' is a compound word combining 'Star' and the suffix '-ium,' which denotes a space, thus meaning 'a space where stars exist.' According to the company, this reflects the recent trend among visitors to Korea who prefer K-content and unique cultural experiences, and it is characterized by a significant expansion of experiential elements compared to before.

The new Star Avenue consists of three main zones: the High Five Zone, the Large Media Wall, and the Experience Zone. In the High Five Zone, located on both sides of the entrance, visitors can see handprints of models who have worked with Lotte Duty Free. For the social media generation, a mirror space has also been set up for taking selfies.

Foreign tourists are experiencing the 'High Five Zone' at Lotte Duty Free Myeongdong Main Store Star Avenue in Jung-gu, Seoul. Provided by Lotte Duty Free

Beyond the High Five Zone, visitors encounter a large media wall measuring approximately 23.5 meters wide and 4.25 meters tall. This tunnel-shaped LED installation provides an overwhelming sense of immersion. Here, visitors can enjoy signature content with K-pop themes, as well as videos featuring Lotte Duty Free models and branding. The Experience Zone across from it is divided into eight areas, offering a variety of interactive content such as games and videos. The games include 'Lucky Picker,' a claw machine, and 'Lucky Flip,' a card selection game. In addition, exclusive content videos featuring Lotte Duty Free's promotional models are showcased on both the large media wall and in the Experience Zone.

Namkoong Pyo, Head of Marketing at Lotte Duty Free, stated, "We have completely renewed Star Avenue to offer tourists visiting Myeongdong a more diverse and immersive K-content experience," adding, "We plan to gradually introduce differentiated marketing strategies this year to attract both domestic and international customers."

Meanwhile, on January 7, Lotte Duty Free selected boy group Kickflip and girl group Hearts2Hearts as new promotional models, aiming to target a global customer base. Going forward, the company plans to utilize K-pop models to develop a variety of K-content and attract multinational customers.