KB News Desk
Homeplus said Thursday it is starting its reopening with a soft launch today, drawing on the cash injection that kept its rehabilitation alive, with a court decision on the plan just four weeks away.
The retailer said the much-needed 200 billion won ($141 million) debtor-in-possession loan from Meritz Financial Group has landed in its accounts, three weeks after the court reversed its decision to terminate Homeplus’s rehabilitation once the loan agreement came through.
“We plan to quickly wrap up talks with suppliers and delivery partners, which are in their final stages, and resume operations at the 67 stores currently under temporary closure,” the company said in a statement. The retailer plans to complete all operational checks and follow-up work to fully reopen on Aug. 13.
Dozens of employees had already returned to individual locations the day before to prepare for reopening, cleaning shelving and refrigeration units. To speed operational normalization, labor and management agreed to defer bonuses, forgo severance-linked payouts and push wage payments back two months each, through March.
Homeplus plans to focus on packaged and processed foods for now, then lean on fresh food and groceries to draw shoppers back once stores stabilize, while restoring delivery capacity for its e-commerce business.
Homeplus is staking its revival on a Trader Joe’s-style format, built around food, private-label goods and everyday essentials with a slimmed-down assortment.
Whether the 67 stores reopen successfully and normalize operations is seen as a key test ahead of the rehabilitation plan’s approval deadline on Sept. 4, hinging on whether Homeplus can recover sales and keep supplier deliveries stable.
Homeplus had considered a sequential store opening but decided to align the timeline across all locations given the tight window before the deadline. The court plans to set a date between late this month and early September for a creditors’ meeting to deliberate and vote on the plan.
