I recently heard about a new kind of "smart" store that was making its debut in Seolleung station here in Seoul. The location is nothing but a short bike ride from my flat, so I decided to roll on over and take a look for myself.
Homeplus, jointly owned by Tesco and Samsung, is the second largest retailer in South Korea. They are billing the venture as a "fourth generation" store. The official name is Homeplus Smart Virtual Store, and they say it is the first store of its kind in the world.
Seolleung station is in the heart of the Gangnam business district. Its a very wealthy and affluent part of town filled with tall buildings, ritzy hotels, clubs and shops. That being said, Seolleung station itself is rather unassuming. It looks much the same as any other subway station, with various venders littering the passageways between exits. I assume the reason for the placement of the virtual store in Seolleung lies in the fact that it is a transfer station, linking the inner-city green line and the yellow line that runs to the heavily populated Bundang district of Seongnam...
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