On Saturday morning office worker Kim Hye-sun rushed to Hyundai Department Store in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, to buy red velvet cupcakes and banana pudding from the recently opened Magnolia Bakery located in a food court inside the premises. 

Waiting half an hour in a long line at the New York-based dessert shop known for its cameo on U.S. TV show “Sex and the City” didn’t bother Kim. “I’m not here to shop for fashion items. I just came to try out a new variety of food like this cupcake that I can only have when I go to New York,” she said.

Department stores such as Hyundai, Lotte and Shinsegae are overhauling their food courts to address new consumer tastes with luxury good sales declining and the general food mania growing in a country that is showing an insatiable appetite for watching TV cooking shows.

“Department stores are finding a new role to offer a one-stop place for gourmets as they’re losing price competitiveness with online shopping outlets and outlet stores,” Yang Yoon, a professor at Ewha Womans University, said.

As department stores eke out less than 3 percent average revenue growth, they have strengthened the food business to overcome slow sales growth, according to analysts and industry insiders.

Food sellers at Lotte Department Store put up 11.7 percent revenue growth while total revenue collected by the country’s largest department store rose 3.2 percent during the first 10 month this year. Food basement profits accounted for more than 11.6 percent of the department store sales.

“The food courts emerged as an attractive avenue to pump up department stores’ sales growth. Their competition to discover new food brands will heat up,” a department store official said.

The subterranean food courts devoted to the latest food trends, a mixture of grocery shops, popular local and overseas restaurants as well as standalone dessert stores.

The Hyundai Department Store in Pangyo, which opened in August and houses a 13,860-square meter food court, the largest of its kind in the country, generated buzz among younger consumers.

The buzz was due not only to the scale, but also the brands it attracted to the food emporium, including premium Italian marketplace brand Eataly and Danish juice bar Joe & The Juice, which are both being introduced in the country through the department store.

“As income level rises, people seek out indulgent treats and trendy food, just like what happened in Japan and European countries,” Hyundai representative Lee Kyung-hoon said.

Lotte Department Store also launched what it called a dessert street in the basement food court, comprising 20 brands including French confectionery brand La Cure Gourmande and Japanese cheese tart brand Pablo.

Shinsegae Department Store’s food court sales have also increased 15.7 percent this year after it unveiled a revamped store in Myeong-dong last year as part of efforts to keep up with the gourmet food fad.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)