Pending permits, Lotte Plaza Market will open in the first quarter of 2025 after it renovates the closed Best Buy in the Regency area of Jacksonville into a Korean- and Asian-focused grocery store.
President Alvin Lee said by email July 15 that his group was scheduled to start construction earlier this year for a fall or winter opening but changes in the city permitting system resulted in a delay.
“We believe we are near the finish line and the contractors are ready to go once the permits are issued,” he said.
“It looks like a 1st quarter 2025 opening. We will do our best to open as quickly as we can.”
The stores offer meats, seafood, produce and specialty products, including packaged teas, sauces and fresh fruits and vegetables. They also have food courts and bakeries.
It would be the Maryland-based company’s third Florida store. It opened an Orlando store in 2019 and in Tampa in November 2023.
The company has 16 stores in Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Florida with a goal of opening 50 Lotte Plaza Market locations by 2030.
Its Lotteplaza.com website shows seven locations in Virginia, six locations in Maryland, two in Florida and one in New Jersey.
At the new Richmond, Virginia, store May 12, Lee said the next opening would be in Jacksonville and then Miami.
“There’s more coming,” he said.
The stores carry Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Philippine, Thai and Indian products, among other foods.
The Richmond store has a French-Asian bakery and an Asian food court with Korean, Japanese and other tastes.
Lee said by email July 15 that Lotte Plaza Market chose Jacksonville for its population and its difference from the rest of the state.
“A large, diverse population and a dynamic, growing environment are some of the things that attracted us to Jacksonville,” he said.
“Different in many ways from central Florida and south Florida, we believe Jacksonville has a unique vibe and cultural heritage different from the rest of Florida. I think the City will continue to enjoy steady growth into the future and we want to be a part of that,” he said.
Lee said the interior will look like the company’s new platform stores in Tampa and Richmond.
Former Best Buy store
Lotte Plaza Market is preparing to convert the closed Best Buy it bought in the Regency area of Arlington in January 2022.
Best Buy closed the store in March 2021. It was built in 1999.
The city has been reviewing a permit application and plans for the renovation of the 45,799-square-foot Best Buy on almost 3.4 acres at 9355 Atlantic Blvd. at a job cost of almost $9 million.
The initial plans were filed in September 2023 and revised as more were submitted.
The city also is reviewing a site-work permit at a project cost of $50,000 for installation of trees, shrubs and ground covering along with modifications to the irrigation system.
Casco of St. Louis is the architect and engineer.
Plans show interior and exterior renovations.
Inside, plans show grocery, meat, seafood and produce areas and at least seven food vendor stations and a food court area.
There also is space for a bakery.
SW Jacksonville LLC, led by Maryland-based Sungwon Distributor LLC agent Sang Lee, bought the Best Buy property.
Sungwon Distributor LLC is based in Jessup, Maryland. Sung Lee is the CEO.
Colliers International Florida Executive Director Jason Ryals and Senior Associate Gina Kline in Jacksonville represented the seller in the transaction. Ryals said the purchase price was $4 million.
Ryals said SW Jacksonville’s broker was Daniel Lynch III, a partner with Atlantic Retail Properties in West Palm Beach.
Lotteplaza.com says that since 1976, Lotte Plaza Market “has strived to be the premier source for Asian groceries in Maryland and Virginia.”
“Our desire to continuously improve customer relations and contribute to the community we serve has helped us grow from a single store in 1989 to 12 locations throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Florida.” It also added New Jersey.
The site says the company was founded in 1976 and opened in Maryland in 1989.
Sang Lee registered with the state to do business in Florida.
It appears that it can take several years for the stores to open.
Lee registered SW Jacksonville LLC in December 2021; SW Tampa LLC in November 2020; and Sungwon Orlando LLC in June 2016.
The Orlando LLC was registered in 2016 and the store opened in 2019.
The Tampa name was registered in November 2020, the building purchase made in January 2021 and the store opened in 2023.
The Jacksonville name, filed in December 2021, came the month before the property was purchased, with plans filed in September 2023. Opening is expected in 2025.
Sungwon Miami LLC was registered in June 2022, indicating the fourth Florida location.
Branching out
CEO Sung Lee says on lotteplaza.com that:
“Our growth in the Korean Industry has reached the limits of the market. To continue our success, we must adapt to a larger base of customers, and meet their diverse needs in the retail market,” he said.
“Technological innovations, customer-centric management policies, and a commitment to continuously adapting our efforts to match customer demand will carry us to the next phase of growth.”
In New Tampa, the owners of the chain paid $7 million for the former Sweetbay Market building in January 2021. The Sweetbay building closed in 2013 and had been unoccupied since.
TampaBayTimes.com reported at the November grand opening that the 49,000-square-foot Korean-owned superstore was the first Asian market of its kind in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.
It has five food court-style eateries inside as well as a Tous Les Jours French-Asian bakery. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The news site said the New Tampa store was just the second tier 2 store that Lotte has built, an upgraded version of its previous stores. More, in Jacksonville and Miami, are on their way.
“The type 2 platform incorporates all new design language,” Lee said. “In terms of the layout and equipment, we just redid the whole thing. And the customers’ response has been just tremendous.”
Lee said July 18 that the type two stores are its “new upgraded platform, more modern and upscale design and equipment.”
The three now operating are in Sterling and Richmond, Virginia, and Tampa.
Competition
Lotte Plaza Market follows the February 2024 opening of RD International Market in a renovated 52,600-square-foot store Winn-Dixie that closed in 2017 in the Hogan area.
The store is at 7534 Beach Blvd. in the Beach Boulevard Shopping Center near the eastern access to the Hart Expressway.
The center is along Beach Boulevard at Hogan and Parental Home roads, about 5 miles southwest of the Lotte Plaza Market.
RD International, an Asian and seafood market, carries food, décor, housewares, fresh produce, refrigerated foods, frozen and fresh meats and fish and 70 live seafood tanks.
It is owner Steven Yuan’s second and largest store in the state. The first is in Lake Worth.
Yuan equipped the store with new flooring, shelving, freezers, refrigerators, checkout stations and carts with swivel casters that allow for easy guidance.
The market also has a food court with 12 restaurants and is opening a hot bar for prepared foods.
RD International Market had no comment about Lotte Plaza.
RD International Market’s building is larger than the former Best Buy.
Lee said his group has not visited RD International Market so he could not comment specifically.
“But we do compete all along the east coast and we strive to differentiate ourselves with quality, organization, cleanliness, competitive pricing, and an overall inviting atmosphere for our customers. We will also have a Korean French bakery along with a food court,” he said.
Eric Heninger, adjunct professor of accounting and finance at the University of North Florida Coggin College of Business, said the net population growth of 77,014 people in Duval County since 2019 “means there is room for both.”
He said Asian communities place a lot of value on preparing their own meals. That, along with an overall net population growth of 1,265 newcomers per month and a concentrated target market, means “large (stores) can be good for a couple of reasons.”
The large stores can serve as community hubs and will have crossover appeal “if they can really deliver the true food court experience (think foodhallen).”
Foodhallen is an indoor food hall in Amsterdam that opened in 2014.
“If people new to the markets walk in and they forget they’re in an old Best Buy or Winn-Dixie – then both will be very successful. If they cannot pull that off with respect to space-aesthetic-experience, then most likely they will be limited to organic target market demand.”
Heninger said the competition will be tied to “whoever is more local will out-compete the other.”
Jacksonville also has smaller neighborhood Asian markets that are independently operated.
“They will feel the competition. Proprietors here must circle their competitive advantage and stick to it,” Heninger said.
The competition will force smaller operators to analyze their sales and volume trends “to tease out market position strategy.”
It “might also drive these stores to undertake capital improvements to maintain market share.”
“You’ll have one or two owners who were already thinking about hanging it up – and this is the right time,” Heninger said.
“And you’ll have the same number who have been thinking it’s time to make some improvements – and this is the right time.”