Larger discount stores still eating smaller ones

Reflecting the way the local retail landscape has changed, government data showed yesterday that large discount stores have trounced smaller shops since the market opened to foreign competition in 1996.
From then until the end of last year, the number of large discount shops has soared from 28 to 276, according to a report by the Commerce, Industry and Energy Committee of the National Assembly.
In comparison, mid- to small-sized shops dropped from more than 750,000 to about 610,000.
As foreign stores such as the United States’ Wal-Mart and Britain’s Tesco entered the local market, homegrown firms E-Mart and Lotte Mart increased their presence to compete, pushing smaller shops out of the picture in the process.
For almost a year, the Uri Party’s Lee Sang-min and Sim Sang-jeong of the Democratic Labor Party have been leading efforts to regulate discount stores’ market dominance, including limiting their business hours ― some stores are open 24 hours a day ― and adopting stricter screening procedures.
Recently, the Jeonju municipal government in North Jeolla province restricted large shops there. Home plus and Lotte Mart have filed lawsuits in response.
The central government has maintained it can’t introduce further restrictions on large stores because of conditions it agreed to when the markets opened.

By Yoo Jee-ho Staff Writer [jeeho@joongang.co.kr]