All three of you are part of the sales team and have been welcoming customers on the front lines of Connect Hyundai Cheongju from the preparation stage until now, haven't you? You have all been with Hyundai Department Store for a long time.

Manager Kim Hyun-gu (hereinafter Kim Hyun-gu): Led by Team Leader Yoon Young-sun, Manager Lee Woong-hee, and myself, we are all part of the Sales Team and working at Connect Hyundai Cheongju. It has been exactly 15 years since I joined Hyundai Department Store, including the renewal projects for the Cheonho and Mokdong branches. At Connect Hyundai Cheongju, I oversee three divisions: Young Fashion, Living, and Baby & Children.

Lee Woong-hee (hereinafter Lee): I have been working at Hyundai Department Store for about 11 years. I have been in charge of the F&B division until now. At Connect Hyundai Cheongju, I plan F&B spaces tailored to the concept and location of Connect Hyundai Cheongju, curate products, and plan and execute related pop-up events. Before coming to Connect Hyundai Cheongju, I was part of the TF Task Force team at the Premium Outlet Songdo branch, and I worked on the renovation of the restaurant area and the underground food hall at the Hyundai Department Store Mia branch.

Team Leader Yoon Young-sun (hereinafter Yoon Young-sun) has been with Hyundai Department Store for a little over 17 years. Currently, I serve as the Team Leader of the Connect Hyundai Cheongju Sales Team, managing the overall operations of the sales team. Prior to this, I worked as the General Manager of the Hyundai Department Store Sinchon U-Plex Team.

Following Connect Hyundai Busan, Connect Hyundai Cheongju opened on June 27th at Cheongju Central City in Gagyeong-dong, Heungdeok-gu. It certainly looks different from a typical department store; what kind of spaces are designed for each floor?

Connect Hyundai Cheongju spans a total of five floors and covers an area of approximately 25,000 pyeong. It consists of 'Foodie Station' on the GF Ground Floor , which features a main entrance connected to the ground-level plaza; 'Beauty & Trend' on the 1st floor; 'New Wave' on the 2nd floor; 'Culture & Mania' on the 3rd floor; and 'Family Time' on the 4th floor. While Connect Hyundai aims to be a playground that connects people, places, and culture beyond just a shopping mall, Connect Hyundai Cheongju goes a step further by maximizing the functions of play and experiential content, aspiring to be a New Entertainment Mall where culture, art, and the local community are organically linked. We are broadly targeting the MZ generation, extending beyond existing family customers and families in their 30s and 40s. Accordingly, we have planned the space by arranging customized themed areas on each floor to suit different generations and tastes. The Foodie Station on the GF floor is connected to the Cheongju Express Bus Terminal and is a gourmet space where you can enjoy trendy F&B and local restaurants that highlight regional characteristics, including the famous 'Pangpang Road,' a food court, deli, and bakery. The Beauty & Trend on the 1st floor features casual clothing targeting young women, 'Offworks,' a select shop directly operated by the company, and 'Trend Beacon,' a collection of non-mainstream general merchandise brands. The New Wave on the 2nd floor is a space encompassing street casual and sports. It houses casualwear brands targeting the MZ generation, such as Musinsa Standard. The Culture & Mania on the 3rd floor is a floor where you can enjoy men's fashion, outdoor activities, and entertainment. It features the region's first implementation of a subculture zone where you can experience IP content. Finally, Family Time on the 4th floor features stores catering to kids, living, and dining. Family restaurant VIPS, Nitori (known as the 'IKEA of Japan'), Electronic Land, and the local small business platform Cheongju Happiness Store are located here, allowing families to stay comfortably.

You can feel it the moment you step into the GF floor, which serves as the department store's first impression. From wide passageways connecting the tenant spaces of F&B brands and flexible circulation to pleasant seating where you can enjoy your meals comfortably.

Lee Woong-hee: Naturally, the arrangement and quantity of products vary depending on the space. Typically, department stores place F&B areas in the basement; however, Connect Hyundai Cheongju is relatively small, at approximately 870 pyeong, because the structure connects directly to the Cheongju Express Bus Terminal upon opening the doors to the GF floor, where F&B brands are concentrated. Therefore, I put a lot of thought into how to make the space of the Foodie Station on the GF floor—the first entry point into the department store after passing the ground-level plaza—as efficient and interesting as possible. As a result, a store was completed that I am personally very satisfied with, having worked on various F&B-related projects at Hyundai Department Store. Since the seating area can be designed to emphasize relaxation or tailored to the function of dining, seating is one of the absolutely critical elements in the food section. The appropriate quantity of products is also determined based on this. At Connect Hyundai Cheongju, we prioritized creating a space where people can comfortably eat and rest within the allocated area, so we increased the seating space by 5–10% compared to other branches. The Family Lounge and Pet Lounge are among the results of that deliberation. While tenant spaces selling food and beverages are important, we devoted considerable effort to reviewing the synergy between sales, merchandise, and rest areas by expanding the use of shared lounges where customers can comfortably eat and relax. We believed that for a food hall, while taste quality is crucial, it is equally important to create a visually open and comfortable dining environment the moment you first step inside. As you can see when you look around, the seating is arranged in a continuous line. Regarding merchandise, since the space is adjacent to the terminal, we focused on detailed research and development of food and beverages and gift items that can be conveniently purchased for consumption or takeout. This project was designed to allow customers to discover local Cheongju bakeries while simultaneously making it easy to pick up and take away items when stopping by the terminal.

One of the things Connect Hyundai Cheongju is famous for is Bangbang Road.

Lee Woong-hee : That is correct. If we were to name the main highlight of Connect Hyundai Cheongju, Ppangppang Road would be the representative one. In the food halls of other branches, bakery tenants exist separately. We decided to create a space that would serve as a signature for Connect Hyundai Cheongju and promote the regional identity of the Chungcheong area, and that is exactly what led to Ppangppang Road. Ppangppang Road is a bakery space that brings together local bakeries from the Chungcheong region in one place. During market research, I realized that all of these local bakeries in the Chungcheong area take pride in making and selling bread. The bakery brands that have set up shop here are all recognized by citizens in the Chungcheong region, centered around Cheongju, and having them gathered in one place at Connect Hyundai Cheongju has further solidified the power of these local brands. Although there were many twists and turns during the process of proposing and persuading them to open stores, I feel a sense of accomplishment seeing the positive results. I am truly grateful that it is receiving so much love from citizens and tourists visiting Cheongju. As Cheongju has long been famous for macaron desserts, a bakery dessert festa is held every year; this year, we held a preview event in September. Currently, there are a total of 8 brands on Ppangppang Road: 'Everett,' a famous authentic scone shop; 'Joeunga Bakery,' a bakery in Boeun, Chungbuk, that uses local specialties like jujubes; 'Rorodi,' a mochi bread shop known as a specialty of Seongan-gil; 'Dongbong,' an egg tart specialty shop; 'Lorane Bangatgan,' a cafe in Banseok-dong, Daejeon; 'Nomad Oven,' which bakes and introduces various breads daily; and 'Dure Bakery' and 'Usoppang,' famous for their salt bread.

Passing the GF floor, every floor from the 1st to the 4th has a distinct character, and the interior design and atmosphere differ slightly. You can feel the power that the space alone can convey.

Kim Hyun-gu: It took about three years to prepare in earnest for the opening of Connect Hyundai Cheongju. From the architectural design stage, we aimed to create a unique space overall by utilizing a sense of scale and high ceilings. The biggest mission regarding how to develop Connect Hyundai Cheongju and what kind of space it would become was to "create a new business model." I believe the strength of Hyundai Department Store lies in the power of space. While customers were attracted through products in the past, starting with The Hyundai Seoul, Hyundai Department Store has essentially presented a new business model that draws customers in through the attractiveness of the space and the differentiated content that fills it. We also wanted to fully highlight the unique spatial charm of Connect Hyundai Cheongju. Through such deliberation, we varied the interior design on each floor, and I think the products curated to match each floor's concept blended together to create even greater synergy.

For example?

Kim Hyun-gu: While searching for a new business model, I focused on the characteristics of the local commercial district and aimed to create a space that captures the unique identity of Connect Hyundai Cheongju. When visiting leading domestic design and construction firms, my primary consideration was their ability to creatively interpret and express the space. During our joint research, we closely observed that Cheongju is developing into an industrial hub; drawing inspiration from this, we established "Industry" as the unifying theme connecting all floors. We reinterpreted industrial elements from a spatial design perspective, but refined them to be warmer, taking into account the nature of the department store and the visitors using it. If you look around the Cheongju Happiness Store on the fourth floor, you can see bulky materials resembling stove chimneys passing by, and pipework leading to the escalator. On the third floor, we created contrast by separating the distinctly different areas of men's fashion, outdoor wear, and entertainment into a "Pink Zone" and a "Gray Zone" using floor and ceiling colors. We also incorporated aluminum housing lights as an industrial element in the lighting design. In this way, we freely utilized practical materials commonly found in industrial settings—such as aluminum, zinc, and steel plates—as a design language to uniquely translate them into the interior. As a result, I believe we were able to showcase the regional characteristics of Cheongju to our customers, presenting an atmosphere that is difficult to achieve in existing department stores or shopping malls. From a branding perspective, I believe it is crucial that the physical hardware of the space evolves alongside the core target audience, in line with the concept of a "New Entertainment Mall." Since the second floor features street casual and sports wear, we created an atmosphere reminiscent of a hipster alleyway. The flow of movement unfolds in a zigzag pattern between the stores, as if exploring an alley. I suspect the reason the entire space feels so pleasant is that we utilized every spare and unused space to serve as resting areas for customers.

In that case, what do you think is the biggest appeal of Connect Hyundai Cheongju, to which you have put so much effort?

Hyundai Department Store initially operated solely as a department store, but around 2010, it expanded its business by taking on a new challenge in the form of outlets. Connect Hyundai is the next step, a project that brands local shopping malls from Hyundai Department Store's unique perspective. Connect Hyundai Cheongju is a new entertainment mall that targets a younger demographic and encompasses a wide range of customers. As such, it possesses a powerful appeal that allows customers to visit comfortably in casual attire and without pressure, encouraging them to return every day. You can head to the Action Zone in the Subculture Hall on the 3rd floor with your family to play a round of the claw machine, or play an escape room game at Real World with friends after school. You can also sit and relax on the benches in Central Green, a designated resting area located right in the center of the 1st floor. In the case of Central Green, while typical department store facilities are filled with stores selling cosmetics and perfumes, Connect Hyundai Cheongju has boldly transformed that space into a customer lounge area, arranging chairs, trees, and artwork together. Additionally, families with babies can comfortably have lunch at the Foodie Station Family Zone on the GF floor and then take a rest before leaving.

I see this as a space where a customer's perspective on the department store shifts from "I have to go buy something" to "I'm going to spend the day." When you visit Connect Hyundai Cheongju, you feel that you can have a fun, enjoyable, and fulfilling time, making you appreciate the value of your time. I think that is the power of a space. In particular, the subculture zone on the third floor was novel and interesting, featuring an escape room area and spaces for entertainment. The happy faces of the high school students playing the escape room game left a lasting impression on me.

Yoon Young- sun: I hope Connect Hyundai Cheongju becomes a place where customers can enjoy and experience the space. In the case of Real World, our escape room space, we broke away from the conventional department store layout and planned from the preparation stage to utilize approximately 500 pyeong of space according to its purpose. I believe it is an innovative endeavor.

What other projects consider the regional characteristics of Cheongju or introduce local content from the Chungcheong region?

Yoon Young- sun: From a cultural perspective, Cheongju is also a city of crafts. It is making significant international strides with the hosting of the Cheongju Craft Biennale, a world-class craft festival held every two years. As a department store that is also a product of industrial culture, we collaborated by providing a promotional booth and experiential content related to the Cheongju Craft Biennale at the time of our opening. We also partnered with AeroK, the airline based at Cheongju Airport, to run a pop-up event for about three weeks. Furthermore, we signed an MOU with the Sejong Arboretum in the Chungcheong region. We are committed to promoting the arboretum with a focus on caudex plants at the Connect Hyundai Cheongju space through plant sales events, and we are willing to cooperate without hesitation on any promotional initiatives, such as the Seongan-gil Revitalization Project led by the Cheongju City Urban Regeneration Department. Connect Hyundai Cheongju is sincere about Cheongju.

I am also curious about the reactions you have experienced from existing customers since the opening. Is there anything that stands out in your memory?

Kim Hyun-gu: It is fascinating and gratifying for us to see customers of all ages visiting, a demographic not typically seen in traditional department stores, and to see people of all ages enjoying this space. In fact, customers in their 20s and 30s account for about 53% of our total clientele; however, we have expanded our target age group to include the MZ generation, not limiting ourselves to them alone. We hoped to encompass not only the customers who have traditionally visited department stores but also those who found it difficult to come comfortably. As you mentioned, seeing students in school uniforms with backpacks playing in the subculture hall on the 3rd floor, female customers in their 20s and 30s spending time at Objet Sangga—a DIY goods brand with its main branch in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul—male customers in their 20s and 30s shopping at Musinsa, which has opened its first store in Chungcheongbuk-do, and families browsing figures together in the Play in the Box zone within the subculture zone, are sights that motivate us to strive even harder.

It seems Connect Hyundai Cheongju is essentially a playground for the citizens of Cheongju. What role do you hope Connect Hyundai Cheongju will play in Cheongju in the future?

I once visited Connect Hyundai Cheongju with my child and my wife for her birthday. While I may have been a bit biased, everyone spent a fun and fulfilling five hours there, running around and playing with the kids at the kids' cafe. Just as I had this experience, I hope this space becomes a place where the citizens of Cheongju can feel positive emotions—simply put, it is fun and comfortable. When The Hyundai Seoul opened, I also exclaimed "Wow" the moment I stepped inside, and spending time there was truly refreshing. We intend to consistently walk in step with the local community, curating products at reasonable prices so they are not burdensome, while providing interesting sights and fun experiential content.

I understand that all three of you moved your residences to Cheongju when you started working at Connect Hyundai Cheongju. Cheongju, a city you initially encountered through work that has now become your living area. What is your experience like?

Kim Hyun-gu: For those accustomed to living in a big city and enjoying its cultural infrastructure, it can naturally feel a bit boring. On my days off during the week, I tend to spend my time quietly because there are many large and pleasant cafes in Cheongju. On the other hand, I learned quite a few new things while conducting local research. Cheongju has a population of about 850,000, and the proportion of economically active people in their 30s and 40s ranked first outside the Seoul metropolitan area. It is a relatively young city. As the government expands Cheongju into an industrial specialized complex through regional policies, I noticed a trend of young talents living in the capital area moving down to settle here. The proportion of single-person households is also high. Given that purchasing power is rising to some extent, I believe the city definitely holds great potential. Lee Woong-hee: As Manager Kim Hyun-gu mentioned, Cheongju has well-established industrial complexes. There are also many research institutes in Ochang, a region near Cheongju. Contrary to my personal expectations, the age group working in these industrial complexes and research institutes is quite young. They are certainly sensitive to trends and have distinct tastes of their own. It was fascinating to see that these people showed such great interest in Connect Hyundai Cheongju. Gagyeong-dong, where Connect Hyundai Cheongju is located, has a concentrated office district, and the number of office workers visiting is high during the week. If the local commercial district and citizens of the living area interact with Connect Hyundai Cheongju and support each other, and if this trend creates a virtuous cycle, I believe the potential for the city's development is limitless.

Yoon Young-sun: This is also our family's first time living in a provincial city. At first, we were worried about whether we would be able to adapt well, but my whole family is highly satisfied with our daily life in Cheongju. Our neighbors have also welcomed us kindly and warmly. As a result, my family has come to view this as a great place to live at a relaxed pace. Apart from daily life, regarding the city's potential, a prime example is the upcoming opening of the M15X plant, a large-scale semiconductor manufacturing facility built with investment from SK Hynix. It is said that over 160 partner companies are participating in the construction site, with a total workforce of approximately 2.4 million person-days deployed. With the growth of the high-income population and the industrial sector, we can view the city's economic potential very optimistically. As far as I know, Cheongju also ranks among the top in the nation for birth rates. This indicates a high level of life satisfaction. In many aspects, both personally and professionally, Cheongju is a city with great potential.

Maker's Pick

3 Must-Visit Spaces If You Visit Connect Hyundai Cheongju

Bangbang Road

At Ppangppang Road, located at the Foodie Station on the GF floor, you can find eight local bakeries from Chungcheong, including Cheongju, all in one place. These are all famous bakeries recognized by locals and where people line up to buy bread. They welcome customers with breads specializing in different types, including 'Everett', 'Joeunga Bakery', 'Rorodi', 'Dongbong', 'Lorane Mill', 'Novard Oven', 'Dure Bakery', and 'Usoppang'.

Cheongju Happiness Store

Located on the 4th floor, Cheongju Happiness Store operates as a conceptual space featuring local characters and regional characteristics through collaboration with young artists and local brands from the Cheongju area. It is run by the local culture cooperative Yeoyurie, offering paid caricature and coloring experiences, as well as introducing goods that capture the unique sensibility of Cheongju and hosting pop-ups.

Central Green

A rest area in the center of the first floor featuring plants and the sculptural work Mr. Pink by French visual artist, musician, composer, and actor Philip Catherine . At Connect Hyundai Cheongju, rest areas have been created by placing a resting place where customers can relax comfortably in the center or by utilizing leftover spaces, in addition to shopping and experiential content and cultural spaces.