Emart to shut Pierrot discount-store chain

Emart is to shut down its Pierrot discount-store chain to focus on luring customers to its mainstay hypermarkets.

After significantly falling sales last year, the South Korean giant closed down several Pierrot stores, including the store in Myeongdong shopping district. The company will shut the remaining six stores this year.

Meanwhile, Emart plans to remodel about 50 out of 160 general merchandise stores this year to offer a larger selection of lower-priced items and high-margin, private-brand products.

Besides its hypermarkets, Emart operates a range of chains spanning convenience stores, drugstores and home electronics. Emart’s profit fell from 194.6 billion won (US$166 million) in the third quarter of 2018 to 116.2 billion won (US$97.2 million) in the same period last year.