UK’s leading sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion next month will open its flagship store in South Korea, which would be its first store not only in Korea but also in Northeast Asia.

According to the company on Monday, it will open its first Korean store in the trendy shopping and dining district near Gangnam Station in southern Seoul, Korea, on April 13. JD Sports Fashion plans to open total 31 additional stores across Korea by the end of this year and offer products of global sportswear brands including Nike, Adidas, Fila and Puma, the company said.

JD Sports Fashion is the largest sports-fashion retail company in Europe that runs 1,250 outlets with 25,800 staff in 14 countries including U.K, France, Germany and Italy. Its sales in Europe have grown at a rate of 25 percent annually, outpacing an average gross domestic product of 1.9 percent in the region.

Korea’s Shoemarker, which operates local footwear retail shop Hot-T, will be responsible for marketing and management of JD Sports Fashion’s Korean operations. JD Sports Fashion signed a strategic partnership with Shoemarker in Sep 2017 to strengthen its presence in Korea.

By Kang Da-young and Lee Ha-yeon

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