This is the third installment in a series of articles on companies vying for Seoul’s new duty-free licenses to be issued Saturday -- Ed.

Hyundai Department Store Group is putting luxury at the forefront of its bid for a duty-free license for its first-ever tax-free outlet, promising a full lineup of major luxury brands at the store as well as specialized zones focusing on various aspects of Korean culture.

Hyundai Department Store pushed its 30 years of operating luxury department stores as evidence of its ability to create a luxury-focused duty-free outlet. It plans to create a 6,710-square-meter global luxury hall with the world‘s top luxury brands in fashion, accessories and cosmetics. 

Working towards that end, Hyundai Department Store signed a deal with Bluebell Korea, which distributes luxury brands like Louis Vuitton in Korea, to become a supplier if Hyundai opens a duty-free outlet. 

The duty-free store will also have four specialized zones, separately themed around K-beauty, K-fashion, K-food and K-experience to cater to visitors’ individual interests in Korean culture and products.

Hyundai also pledged to bring in 2 million Chinese tourists to Korea through partnerships with the 17 top travel agencies in China, including industry leader China Travel Service.

The location of Hyundai’s planned duty-free store at Hyundai Department Store’s Coex branch in Gangnam, Seoul is also a competitive edge for the company. Coex, the exhibition center located near the department store, was recently named by the Korean Interior Ministry as the country’s first regulation-free zone for outdoor advertisement signboards. The designation was a green light for Gangnam district officials to begin transforming the area into a Korean version of New York City’s Times Square.

Hyundai Department Store announced that it would be installing two giant light-emitting diode media walls on the department store’s facade, displaying information about tourist attractions and Hallyu stars. All told, Hyundai Department Store will be investing 30 billion won ($25.6 million) over the next five years into tourism infrastructure in the Coex area. 

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)