○ On September 18, Gyeonggi Province, Siheung City and Shinsegae Simon agreed to work together to invigorate the local economy, including the Baegot Development Project.
○ The project is expected to create 1,500 jobs.

Gyeonggi Province, Siheung City, and Shinsegae Simon have agreed to establish a premium outlet in Baegot New Town, which will be the third of its kind in the province.

Governor of Gyeonggi Province Nam Kyung-pil, Mayor of Siheung Kim Yoon-sik, and President Kim Hae-sung of Shinsegae Group, and CEO Kang Myung-koo of Shinsegae Simon agreed to work together to reinvigorate the local economy at a signature ceremony for an agreement on investment in a premium outlet, which was held at 2:30 PM on September 18 in Siheung City Hall.

The said agreement represents a step toward cementing the Letter of Intent signed by the three parties in April 2014. The signing ceremony held on September 18 was attended by National Assembly members Ham Jin-gyu and Jo Jeong-sik, Gyeonggi province councilors Lim Byeong-taek, Kim Jin-gyeong, Choi Jae-baek, and Lee Sang-hui, and Chairman Yun Tae-hak of Sinheung City Council among others.

Under the agreement, Shinsegae Simon will invest a total of 250 billion won by 2017 in the construction of a premium outlet at the Baegot Urban Development Project Site (145,00m2) in Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do. Work on the outlet, whose structure will be based on the motif of a seaside village in Spain, is due to start toward the end of this year. The outlet will house more than 250 prestigious brands from Korea and overseas.

Gyeonggi Provice and Siheung City expect that the outlet will create over 1,500 jobs. They will develop a program to attract tourists by linking the outlet with Wolgot Port and Oiso in an effort to breathe new life into the local economy. It is reported that Shinsegye and Shinsegae Simon will hire locals as employees first and open stores selling local specialties in the outlet.

At the signing ceremony, Governor Nam Kyung-pil said, “The most significant features of the investment plan are the creation of jobs for local people and the opening of stores for local specialties based on collaboration between the investing business and local businesses. Gyeonggi Province will provide positive administrative support to assist Siheung City’s efforts develop the service industry and emerge as a hub of the west coast economic/tourism belt.

During his turn, Mayor of Siheung Kim Yoon-sik said, “We expect that about 7 million people will shop at the newly opened outlet and that it will go a long way toward invigorating the local economy. We also expect that the new outlet will have a positive spillover effect on existing commercial districts, including those in Wolgot, and other diverse effects due to the employment of locals in Siheung.”

As for CEO Kang Myung-koo of Shinsegae Simon, he said, “Baegot New Town boasts a good transportation network, so it will become a favorite destination for shoppers and tourists. The outlet we are building will be an orthodox suburban-type premium outlet designed to provide a highly satisfactory shopping experience.”

The premium outlets, which were opened in Yeoju in 2007 and in Paju in 2011, have emerged as favorite shopper destinations, attracting 5 million people a year. Recently, Gyeonggi Province, Euijeongbu-si, and Shinsegae Simon agreed to build a suburban-type premium outlet on a 150,000m2 site in Sangok-dong, Euijeongbu, which will require an investment of about 110 billion won.