A Rolex shop stops customers from camping out in front

A Rolex boutique in Seoul. [NEWS1]

The Rolex shop at Hyundai Department Store's Apgujeong branch in southern Seoul is introducing a system that will stop people from mobbing the store and camping out in front of it.

It announced Monday that people will now be prohibited from lining up overnight in front of the store. They will have to call ahead.

Demand for luxury brands such as Chanel and Rolex has surged, but inventory is low, in part due the manufacturing bottlenecks in recent months. People will wait overnight for the chance of grabbing items that are back in stock.

Shoppers now have to call the boutique starting 10:30 a.m. the day before their desired visit. Only 40 people on a first-come first-served basis will be allowed to visit and make purchases, admitted in the order they called.

Harried hordes stationing themselves in front of a shop for hours on end can have an impact on the refined images of these establishments.

Rolex said the change was made "to minimize inconveniences for customers."

Other Rolex boutiques will continue to operate as normal, making shoppers line up and calling them in one-by-one.

The Apgujeong Rolex boutique took reservations for Tuesday's visitors on Monday, and an employee said the store received huge number of telephone calls, and that getting through may be hard since there is only one number dealing with reservations.

Following the change, line-sitter management company Openrun Godvatar announced it will stop offering services for the Rolex boutique in Hyundai Department Store's Apgujeong branch. The company matches shoppers with line sitters, who stand in line for people who don't want to wait themselves.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]