Lotte's new outlet mall is au naturel

Industry

Published: 06 Sep. 2021, 18:00

Lotte's new outlet mall is au naturel

Lotte Shopping’s new premium outlet mall the Time Villas in Uiwang, Gyeonggi. The outlet has a soft opening on Wednesday and officially opens on Friday. [LOTTE SHOPPING]

Lotte Shopping is opening a premium outlet mall in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, that promotes the themes of nature and healing.

The Time Villas, officially opening on Friday, will feature 245 brands in a gross area of 175,200 square meters (1,885,837 square feet).

It is a mall with two floors above ground and two basement floors.

Atop the main building, there are 10 “glass houses” that have glass walls. Different brands, including a popular bakery café and a premium golf store, are featured in each of the glass houses.

To make the space more redolent of nature, Lotte created a trail and planted a thousand birch trees. The mall has a grass square where visitors can picnic.

In a dining zone on the second floor, visitors can enjoy meals at restaurants where they can enjoy views of a lake outside the mall.

Unlike most other outlet malls, shopping at the Uiwang branch won't be affected by the weather because it has a roof that can be opened and closed.

Lotte said it paid particular attention to kids and golf, since families with children are major customers of outlet malls.

Glass houses located on top of the main building of the upcoming Time Villas premium outlet mall in Uiwang, Gyeonggi. [LOTTE SHOPPING]

There will be more than 30 brands for kids, an indoor trampoline park called Bounce and playgrounds for kids.

A total of 17 golf brands, like PXG and AKGolf are at the mall, as well as a space where visitors can practice golf.

“The Time Villas has been differentiated from existing premium outlets in every aspect,” said Hwang Beomg-seok, head of the Lotte Department Store, in a statement. “I hope it becomes a representative shopping area in the southern part of Gyeonggi where visitors can experience things beyond shopping to healing in nature.”

It takes around 30 minutes to get to the Time Villas from Gangnam and Jamsil in southern Seoul.

The Time Villas is Lotte’s first new premium outlet mall in two years after Giheung in Gyeonggi opened in December 2018.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]