Urban outlet malls sold a discount that online outlets now sell without the rent

Laboum Outlet opened in 2006 next to Seoul National University Station, a multi-floor building selling discounted sportswear, casual clothing, imported goods and cosmetics to the neighborhood for nearly two decades. It closed for good on December 31, 2025, after a farewell clearance sale.

Laboum's closure fit a pattern already visible across Korea's urban outlet sector. Lotte Shopping ran one fewer outlet store than it did in 2019, and E-Land Retail ran seven fewer. Lotte's own Factory Outlet in Gasan, opened in 2016, closed in September 2024 after annual sales fell 9.4% to ₩22.1 billion. NC Outlet's Incheon Nonhyeon branch closed in June 2025.

The value proposition that had defined city outlets — leftover-season stock at a steep discount — migrated online without needing a building at all. Fashion app Zigzag's dedicated online outlet category saw transaction volume grow 35% year-on-year over three months, with shoppers in their 40s driving 72% growth as an age group that had once been the core in-person outlet customer moved to buying the same discounted stock on their phones.

Shoppers interviewed about outlet closures described the shift bluntly: the discounts at physical outlets no longer felt meaningfully cheaper than online prices, while online outlets offered the same leftover-stock bargains without the trip. A format built on undercutting full retail price lost its edge once an even lower-cost channel could undercut it in turn.