South Korean fashion brand Mardi Mercredi is opening an exclusive store at Lotte World Mall in Seoul after the brand has been operating two flagship stores in central Seoul on gaining success on online fashion platform Musinsa, and is now set to open its first store within a department store.

Lotte Department Store Co. said Thursday that it will open a Mardi Mercredi store. The brand is known for its distinctive petal logo in Korea and other countries. “We are opening a Mardi Mercredi store after three years of convincing the brand,” said an unnamed official from Lotte Department Store. “We’re launching the brand’s third store in Lotte World Mall after winning in a fierce competition among retailers.”

With the opening of the Mardi Mercredi store, Lotte Department Store aims to attract global Millennials and Generation Z consumers. The brand is well known overseas and the main customer base of its flagship store in Hannam is foreigners in their teens to 30s. In fact, sales in Japan have steadily increased, reaching 3 billion won ($2.28 million) last year, since entering the Japanese market in 2021.

Mardi Mercredi also sees the new store in Lotte World Mall as an opportunity to expand its overseas presence. According to Lotte Department Store, the combined sales of its Jamsil branch, AVENUEL, and Lotte World Mall have more than doubled in the first five months of this year from pre-pandemic levels.

“We will introduce products that are hard to find in existing offline stores,” said an official from Lotte Department Store. The flagship store at Lotte World Mall will feature the largest selection of Mardi Mercredi products among its offline stores, including handbag line Le Sac and shoes line Ette Flip Flops as well as signature graphic products.

Lotte Department Store has recently been opening a number of domestic designer brand stores at Lotte World Mall. Earlier on June 2, it opened a plug shop for Arder Error in Lotte World Mall with a size of 230 square meters, which drew attention with uniquely designed mannequins and all-around speakers.

The department store industry expects to attract younger consumers and improve profitability by partnering with K-fashion brands. Luxury brands such as Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Chanel are highly effective in attracting customers but are less profitable due to low fees.

By Kim Gyu-sik and Choi Jieun

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