The newly opened Starfield Library in Seoul is so big that one may well be reminded of how Belle must have felt when she first set foot inside the Beast’s library in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.”
Shinsegae Property officially opened the large-scale library in Starfield Coex Mall on Wednesday, featuring some 50,000 books placed on towering two-story bookshelves.
The 2,800 square meter-sized library is located at the center of the underground shopping mall. Shoppers can freely browse, read and search for books of their choice on kiosks stationed at various points inside the open library area.
Shinsegae Property’s Vice President Lim Young-lock said the group invested 6 billion won ($5.3 million) to create a cultural complex for its customers and fulfill its corporate social responsibility. The library is set to cost 500 million won annually for maintenance. Lim said he hopes this new facility will help boost traffic to the COEX Mall.
Last year, Shinsegae Group’s unit Shinsegae Property won the 10-year operation right to run Coex Mall, the largest underground shopping complex in Asia, according to Korea International Trade Association.
By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)