GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province -- Shinsegae Group‘s shopping mall brand Starfield held its pre-opening for its Goyang branch on Thursday, putting its family-friendly entertainment facilities front and center. 

Starfield Goyang is designed to fill a gap in the underserved consumer market in the residential area northwest of Seoul. It is the third mall to be operated by Shinsegae under the Starfield name, after Starfield Hanam and Starfield Coex.

With store spaces covering 135,500 square meters and 4,500 parking spaces, the mall touts itself as a “complex space to stay.” In other words, the point of the mall is not necessarily to get people to shop -- but to provide enough attractions to get people to stay there.

“We used to say that our rivals were sports arenas like baseball stadiums and amusement park resorts like Everland, but now our most important rival has become the online space,” said Lim Young-lock, CEO of Shinsegae Property, who noted that the length of the average consumer‘s stay at Starfield Hanam was about five hours.

“We decided that we could not provide value if we did not give consumers experiences that they could enjoy in our space. The optimal ratio of shopping facilities to entertainment was about 7 to 3.”

Thirty percent of the mall’s operating space is devoted to non-shopping attractions such as a spa and rooftop pool, a sports center that includes indoor rock climbing walls and basketball courts, a bowling alley and arcade, and a toy theme park.

Starfield Goyang is also the launching pad for Shinsegae Factory, a store offering past-season items from Shinsegae‘s various brands, and Devil’s Diner, a new American diner-style restaurant launched by Shinsegae Food. 

Opening just about a ten-minute drive from Lotte Mall‘s Eunpyeong branch, Starfield Goyang will be competing with Lotte Mall to attract families from neighboring residential areas on weekends. Each mall is aggressive in marketing their family-friendly atmospheres with entertainment centers focused on children.

According to Shinsegae Property, Starfield Goyang hopes to reach 650 billion won ($572 million) in sales in its first year. Starfield Hanam, which is nearing its one-year mark, is hoping to reach a target of 850 billion won beyond its initial goal of 820 billion, according to Lim.

Additional Starfield malls are planned for Cheongna International CIty in Incheon and Anseong, Gyeonggi Province.

Starfield Goyang holds its grand opening on Aug. 24. 

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