Homeplus will reopen all 67 of its temporarily shuttered discount stores Thursday, resolving a monthlong closure driven by a severe cash crunch. The retail chain, owned by private equity firm MBK Partners, had closed the stores in mid-July as it entered court-supervised rehabilitation — Korea’s equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Ahead of the official relaunch, the chain has been running trial operations since Aug. 7, and final inspections wrapped up Wednesday. Once the doors reopen, 59 of the 67 locations will also resume online delivery and e-commerce operations.

Homeplus shut down all of its stores on July 13 after saying it had run out of operating funds to pay suppliers and cover basic costs such as rent and utilities. The company had been under court receivership since March 2025, when it filed for rehabilitation after a credit rating downgrade left it unable to pay short-term debt.

The Seoul Rehabilitation Court briefly moved to terminate the proceedings in early July, which would have pushed the retailer toward liquidation, before reversing that decision on July 21 and extending the deadline for creditors to approve a rehabilitation plan to Sept. 4.

The extension followed an injection of emergency debtor-in-possession financing — a form of court-approved funding that lets a company under bankruptcy protection continue operating — that allowed Homeplus to pay down overdue rent, utility bills and product costs.

To draw customers back, Homeplus is running discount promotions through the end of August.

Members of its My Homeplus loyalty program can get discounts of up to 50 percent, as well as buy-one-get-one free specials on meat, seafood, fruit, snacks, beverages, deli items and bakery goods.

"We're asking customers to use Homeplus often so that this piece of everyday infrastructure for the public can get back on its feet," a Homeplus official said, adding that the company would repay customers' support by offering quality products at low prices.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.