Half-price beef, 3,490 won chicken: Homeplus reopens all 67 stores and tests survival with deep discounts
The struggling retailer is offering up to 50 percent off beef, pork and other goods as it resumes operations and seeks approval for its rehabilitation plan.
A customer shops at a Homeplus store in Seoul on Aug. 9.YONHAP
Homeplus will reopen 67 stores in full on Thursday, with heavy discounts on beef, chicken and pork to pull shoppers back.
Homeplus closed all of its 67 stores on July 13, days after a bankruptcy court ruled to end rehabilitation proceedings for the financially troubled hypermarket chain. The court reversed that ruling in late July after the retailer obtained 200 billion won ($141 million) from Meritz Financial Group — the retailer's largest creditor — to carry out its rehabilitation.
The stores soft-opened last Friday for operational checks, which ran through Wednesday.
The discounts start with Korean beef, or hanwoo. Every cut is up to 50 percent off for members of the My Homeplus loyalty program from Thursday through Sunday.
From Friday through Sunday, Homeplus is selling its own Dangdang fried chicken at 3,490 won, half the usual price, in stores. Purchases are capped at one chickenper customer, with the Seogwipo store in Jeju excluded.
Samgyeopsal (pork belly) and pork shoulder from the Handon Ilpum line are 40 percent off at 1,980 won per 100 grams (3.53 ounces).
Meat, seafood, fruit, snacks, drinks, deli items and bakery goods carry discounts of up to 50 percent or buy-one-get-one offers. The lineup rotates through the promotion period, which runs to the end of the month.
Fifty-nine of the 67 stores also resume online sales on Thursday. Eight do not: Asiad in Busan, Nam-Daegu in Daegu and Guwol in Incheon; Songtan in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi; Samcheok and Gangneung in Gangwon; Ochang in Cheongju, North Chungcheong; and Boryeong in South Chungcheong.
"Please shop at Homeplus so that we can get back on our feet as a facility that underpins people's daily lives," a Homeplus spokesperson said. "We will repay the customers who come to us by supplying high quality goods at low prices."
A reopening notice hangs at a Homeplus store in Seoul on Aug. 9.YONHAP
The reopening will serve as the clearest test yet of whether the chain can survive. The Seoul Bankruptcy Court has set Sept. 4 as the deadline to approve Homeplus's court-led rehabilitation plan.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
