Revamped Starfield Market Emart designed with community in mind
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- CHO YONG-JUN
- [email protected]
![Book Ground, a smaller version of the Starfield Library seen on the larger Starfield shopping complex branch in Coex and Suwon, located at the center of the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi. The Book Ground is accompanied by a Starbucks cafe — the largest Starbucks inside any Emart branch — followed by a spacious open seating area surrounding it. [CHO YONG-JUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/29/41dec57f-0dd3-43bc-ac94-fa1015cdeb54.jpg)
Book Ground, a smaller version of the Starfield Library seen on the larger Starfield shopping complex branch in Coex and Suwon, located at the center of the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi. The Book Ground is accompanied by a Starbucks cafe — the largest Starbucks inside any Emart branch — followed by a spacious open seating area surrounding it. [CHO YONG-JUN]
The Jukjeon branch, officially re-opened on Thursday, combines the features of retail giant Shinsegae Group’s Starfield Mall shopping complex with its existing hypermarket branch.
"Breaking away from the sole goal of shopping [in Emart stores], we wanted to provide a space where customers can take a break and spend time together,” Starfield Market Jukjeon’s manager, Seo Hyok-jin, said Thursday during the branch’s opening event.
![Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon shopping complex in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/29/4227e13c-dc78-4231-9c7c-ff6d25cb06b0.jpg)
Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon shopping complex in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]
A short walk to the center of the branch leads to the highlight of the Starfield Market: the Book Ground, a smaller version of the Starfield Library seen at the larger Starfield shopping complexes in Coex and Suwon. The Book Ground is accompanied by a Starbucks — the largest in any Emart branch — surrounded by a spacious open seating area.
![Book Ground, a smaller version of the Starfield Library seen on the larger Starfield shopping complex branch in Coex and Suwon, located at the center of the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi. The Book Ground is accompanied by a Starbucks cafe — the largest Starbucks inside any Emart branch — followed by a spacious open seating area surrounding it. [CHO YONG-JUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/29/1dfa4abc-e7f5-40eb-ba36-b4ebcd4ac58c.jpg)
Book Ground, a smaller version of the Starfield Library seen on the larger Starfield shopping complex branch in Coex and Suwon, located at the center of the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi. The Book Ground is accompanied by a Starbucks cafe — the largest Starbucks inside any Emart branch — followed by a spacious open seating area surrounding it. [CHO YONG-JUN]
The first floor of the renewed branch also houses golf-specialized retailer Golfzone Market, Youngpoong Bookstore, and a Shinsegae Factory Store mini outlet, with Uniqlo set to open in October. A Jaju store, Shinsegae International’s lifestyle brand, is also present with a brand new interior that takes inspiration from the traditional Korean housing style of hanok.
All of the new stores opening on the first floor meant that they had to reduce the size of the Emart hypermarket, which was the offline branch with the highest revenue in 2023 by a significant margin. The almost 20,000-square-meter (213,500-square-feet) Emart and Electro Mart electronics store that spanned three floors was now reduced to the basement at a more humble 6,600 square meters.
![The Book Ground, located on the first floor, and the Emart hypermarket, located on the basement floor at the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [CHO YONG-JUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/29/ae8e047f-75cd-4536-850c-93a50ebc721c.jpg)
The Book Ground, located on the first floor, and the Emart hypermarket, located on the basement floor at the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [CHO YONG-JUN]
Seo explained that due to the geographical location of the Jukjeon branch, with many households with young kids residing nearby, it became a place where families visit together on the weekends to shop and hang out, alongside Shinsegae’s South City branch across the street that is connected through an underground passage.
The Emart hypermarket, therefore, specializes in daily grocery shopping for families.
![The fresh-cut fruits and balanced meal section at the Emart hypermarket in Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/29/2e738f5f-b141-445e-8076-03d6aa0eb512.jpg)
The fresh-cut fruits and balanced meal section at the Emart hypermarket in Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]
The food section of the store also had fresh-cut fruit, balanced meals and a refrigerated sandwich section to better suit the store’s target demographics.
![Emart hypermarket at the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/29/b6207de2-b33f-4489-95c1-6239475a252d.jpg)
Emart hypermarket at the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]
![France-based sporting goods franchise Decathlon located on the second floor of the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/29/682d5922-6de5-4327-99ac-34a59d372cff.jpg)
France-based sporting goods franchise Decathlon located on the second floor of the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]
"Emart wanted to give the large mall area back to customers."
![Daiso store located on the second floor of the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/08/29/fce4f38f-41aa-47a7-99da-4da37f0f37dc.jpg)
Daiso store located on the second floor of the Starfield Market Emart Jukjeon in Yongin, Gyeonggi [CHO YONG-JUN]
BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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