Lotte eyes department stores in India, Vietnam

SEOUL, Apr 25, 2008 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- LTSHY | news | PowerRating | PR Charts -- Lotte Shopping Co., South Korea's largest retailer, said Thursday it is considering opening department stores in India and Vietnam, as part of its efforts to cash in on some of the world's fast-growing economies.

"We are now searching for sites in India and Vietnam," Lee Chul-woo, chief executive officer of Lotte Shopping, which runs the nation's biggest department store chain, said in an industry forum. Lee didn't elaborate further.

Lee reiterated that Lotte Shopping would open its department store in Beijing in July as scheduled, following the launch of its first overseas store in Moscow last year.

The 36,000-square-meter store in Beijing plans to "attract Chinese customers by strengthening a food court that our rivals didn't have," Lee said.

Lotte Shopping, the flagship of Lotte Group, South Korea's fifth-largest family-run industrial group, has been trying to expand overseas as consumption growth at home has slowed.

Meanwhile, Lee said Lotte Shopping will push ahead with its plan to build the nation's tallest building in Seoul, despite the government's opposition based on a belief the building could interfere with flight routes.

Lotte has been planning to build a 112-story skyscraper in southwestern Seoul. The defense ministry says the structure would interfere with the safety of flights.

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