"When Will It Close?" Homeplus: Empty Stores, Trays Displayed on Food Shelves

Court Decides to Terminate Corporate Rehabilitation Procedure
Bankruptcy Looms If Funding Plan Fails

Yonhap News

The shelves at Homeplus, where the rehabilitation procedure has been terminated, were left empty.

According to Yonhap News Agency, on the afternoon of July 6 in Mapo-gu, Seoul, the Homeplus store was silent. Employees were stocking the shelves with somber expressions.

Hundreds of empty carts were piled up at the store entrance. In the seafood section, only abalone was left on display. The adjacent area was filled with spaghetti noodles and frying pans. Some of the seafood shelves were covered with screens.

The situation was the same at the dairy section. A note reading, "We are experiencing shortages due to milk and dairy product supply issues," was posted. Regular milk was replaced by chocolate milk and processed cheese. Fresh products were hard to find in the meat and vegetable sections as well. Instead, kitchen items like olive oil and trays were placed there.

The alcoholic beverage section was no exception. Domestic beer and soju were nowhere to be found. Only a small amount of unsold imported beer was sparsely displayed on the large shelves.

Customers were also scarce. The occasional shopper browsed discounted items such as olive oil, bathroom slippers, and blenders. The self-checkout counters were turned off and blocked. Two employees were stationed at the staffed checkout counters.

One male customer said, "I came thinking I might do some grocery shopping, but I didn't expect it to be like this. There's nothing to buy," as he left. Yoon Jeonghee (80), a regular customer, said, "I came because I wanted to support them by buying something." She added, "I've visited this store often, so it's very disappointing to hear that it will be closing down."

Mr. Won, who said he had worked at the Hapjeong branch for six years, explained the state of the shelves: "The fresh food remaining in the store arrived before the court issued the decision to terminate the rehabilitation procedure. There is no way to know if or when new stock will arrive. It's overwhelming." He continued, "Still, I have no other choice but to keep working as long as I can."

Due to operational issues, Homeplus suspended its online customer center services as of July 4. Since July 1, the same-day fresh food delivery service 'Magic Delivery' has also stopped. Currently, only delivery services through Baemin and Coupang Eats platforms are available.

A Homeplus representative stated, "Although the court has decided to terminate the company’s rehabilitation procedure, there is still a 14-day grace period." If Homeplus fails to immediately appeal by securing a 200 billion won funding plan, the termination decision will be finalized. In this case, bankruptcy is expected to be declared.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.