Retailers celebrate being able to work longer hours

Industry

Published: 18 Apr. 2022, 19:04

Retailers celebrate being able to work longer hours

A sign at a club in Mapo District, western Seoul, says it is celebrating being able to stay open through the night. Clubs and bars are allowed to operate past midnight, and sales of soju and beer are expected to surge. [YONHAP]

Retailers are rejoicing over lifted pandemic restrictions, with big expectations that business will finally return to what it was pre-Covid-19.

All restrictions on business operating hours were lifted Monday, allowing businesses to once again stay open past midnight. Any extra operating hours are expected to boost sales of soju and beer at restaurants, bars and clubs.

"Demand for alcoholic drinks in the second quarter will rise due to lifted social distancing restrictions, and the recovering demand for soju will help companies' profits," said Park Sang-jun, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.

Discount stores such as Emart and Lotte Mart will once again be able to offer visitors food samples starting April 25.

Employees used to cook food samples around the aisles and offer them to people as an advertisement scheme, but this has been prohibited since July last year due to Covid-19 regulations.

A spokesperson for a food retailer said the company “welcomes the change since letting people taste products is a very effective way to attract customers” but will “wait for government guidelines that will come sometime next week before planning food sample booths.”

Moviegoers will be able to enjoy popcorn at theaters from April 25 as well. Eating in theaters has been prohibited since March last year.

The change is expected to boost sales at movie theater chains. CGV logged food sales of 81.3 billion won ($65.8 million) in 2021, down 7.5 percent on year and plummeting 74.7 percent compared to 2019.

Bringing sales back to pre-pandemic levels would be a big boost for the money-losing company. It reported a net loss of 261 billion won in 2021 compared to a net loss of 466 billion won in 2020.

Airline and tourism businesses are also taking off. Since the government announced fully vaccinated travelers will be allowed to enter Korea without a seven-day quarantine, demand for travel has been surging.

On e-commerce website Gmarket, sales of international flight tickets between March 11 and April 10 rose 876 percent on year. Ticket buyers’ top picks were popular tourist destinations such as Cambodia, Los Angeles and Hawaii. Sales of group tour packages rose 781 percent on year during the same period.

More tourists are visiting Korea as well. Some 20 Thai tourists visited the Shinsegae Duty Free store in Jung District, central Seoul, on April 14. This is the first group of Thai tourists to visit the branch in the past two years.

“It is a small group, but we believe it’s significant because it symbolizes [Covid-19] is becoming endemic,” said a spokesperson for Shinsegae Duty Free.

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