The entrance of Lotte Mart's Bac Giang store in Vietnam. [Lotte Mart]
The entrance of Lotte Mart's Bac Giang store in Vietnam. [Lotte Mart]

Lotte Mart opened its 17th store in Vietnam on July 30, launching the Bac Giang location in the northern city of the same name, the retailer announced Monday.

The store was designed as a community-focused outlet. Its ground-floor shopping area spans about 1,940 square meters and follows a grocery-specialist model, with roughly 89 percent of its product lineup devoted to food. The layout was kept deliberately simple to accommodate shoppers stopping in after work and families visiting on weekends.

Bac Giang is one of Vietnam's leading industrial cities. The area has rapidly built up an IT and electronics manufacturing base driven by industrial complex development and the arrival of global manufacturers. The city has seen a steady influx of young workers and families, and rising incomes have fueled growing demand for retail and dining infrastructure. It is also well connected by transport links to Hanoi and other major industrial areas in the north.

Lotte Mart has historically concentrated its Vietnam store network in the south, particularly around Ho Chi Minh City, operating only two stores in the north — both in central Hanoi. A company official said the new opening "marks the full-scale start of our northern expansion and a strategic move to extend our reach beyond downtown Hanoi to key surrounding cities."

The store also carries a premium product range. Alongside locally sourced seasonal fruit, it stocks imported items including Korean shine muscat grapes and American cherries. More than 30 varieties of organic and eco-certified produce are available, as well as pre-cut fruit portions and pre-washed vegetables. The meat section features Korean-style marinated cuts, frozen shaved samgyeopsal and imported specialty beef including Australian wagyu.

The deli and bakery sections have been tailored to the local market. The in-store ready-meal concept "Yorihada Kitchen" has expanded its dosirak lineup to serve workers from nearby industrial complexes, while popular street-food-style chicken dishes target family shoppers. The store's own bakery brand, Pungmiso, occupies a 14-meter display counter offering around 100 products. Dedicated shelves for Korean ramyun and kimchi are operated separately, and the overall K-food lineup runs to 1,300 items.

Lotte Mart resumed new store openings in Vietnam for the first time in three years last month, launching the Tay Ninh and Bac Giang stores in quick succession. The moves extend the retailer's footprint beyond its traditional base of major cities and tourism destinations into high-growth industrial cities such as Tay Ninh in the south and Bac Giang in the north. The company plans to build out its store network in stages, covering both established hub cities and emerging growth areas.

Cha Woo-cheol, chief executive of Lotte Mart and Super, said the company would "establish itself as the defining shopping destination in Bac Giang by operating stores that closely reflect the lifestyle and consumption needs of local customers."


korean@heraldcorp.com