Crowded Over the Weekend, Suddenly 'Closed'… "Lack of Operating Funds"

[Anchor]

Homeplus, currently facing a crisis of bankruptcy, has suspended its store operations. Residents and tenant businesses are unable to hide their bewilderment at the sudden notice of closure.

Reporter Hong Yeongjae has the report.

[Reporter]

A notice announcing a temporary closure has been posted at the entrance of a Homeplus store.

Shopping carts that should have been filled with groceries have become barricades blocking the checkout counters, and the shelves inside the darkened store are empty.

[(Did you hear that they were closing today?) We have no idea. We don't know anything.]

The locations that have entered temporary closure include 67 Homeplus hypermarkets nationwide and the Homeplus headquarters.

Homeplus stated that it decided to close because it could no longer afford the costs required for product payments and store maintenance.

Customers are also reacting with shock to the news that the stores, which were crowded with shoppers during large-scale inventory discount events just last weekend, have suddenly stopped operations.

[Nearby Resident: It's absurd that this is suddenly gone. Should elderly people over 80 or 90 have to travel two bus stops away just to go grocery shopping? Things like this shouldn't just disappear.]

Tenant businesses also did not receive prior notice of the closure.

They are worried not only about the sales proceeds that have been overdue for several months but also about how they will continue their operations in the future.

[Homeplus Tenant Business: They never said anything about (a closure). I found out this morning. Through an announcement. We haven't even received our sales payments, and it only goes up to April....]

The anxiety among the approximately 12,000 Homeplus workers, who are at risk of losing their jobs, has grown even further.

[Kang Woo-chul / Chairman of the Korean Mart Industry Union: The workplaces of workers have been shut down overnight, and the livelihoods of 100,000 people, including tenant business owners and partner company workers, have been pushed to the edge of a cliff.]

The positions of the major shareholder, MBK Partners, and the largest creditor, Meritz Group, remain at a stalemate regarding how to secure the 200 billion won in necessary operating funds.

If a solution is not found by July 20, Homeplus will effectively enter the liquidation process. The union plans to meet with the vice chairman of MBK tomorrow, July 14, to urge them to present a plan for securing funds.

Reported by Kim Se-kyung | Video by Park Chun-bae | VJ Jung Han-wook
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.