Homeplus, one of the nation’s biggest retailers, faced public criticism as it was found to have registered to open a new store on the day it promised small and medium-sized merchants to refrain from opening new stores.

The retailer registered to open a large store in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 22, the same day it announced plans to create a win-win consultation body with small-and medium-sized merchants and other large retailers including E-Mart and Lotte Mart.

The Osan city government approved of the registration on Tuesday. The new store, which will have eight floors and be 19,000 square meters in total, is known to be about 80 percent ready to open.

Criticisms further arose as it turns out that Osan has a population of just 166,000 as of October, which means that it is categorized as one of the areas that large marts will not open stores in.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy suggested last week that the opening of large marts should not happen in areas with a population below 300,000. Homeplus had registered in May to open a shopping center in the city, though the request was rejected.

“Homeplus chairman Lee Seung-han is violating his own words that he will make a cooperative council and show self-restraint in new store openings,” said Lee Jin-cheol, chief of the merchant association of Mangwon Market, a traditional market in Seoul.

“We may face such misunderstandings if there is a traditional market or many small and medium-sized merchants in the neighborhood, but Osan is a housing development area. It is not an area where sharp conflicts with small and medium-sized merchants are expected,” a Homeplus official was quoted as saying by local media.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)