The Grove is known all over Los Angeles. And now the shopping center’s influence is being felt in South Korea.

Lotte Shopping Co. Ltd., the biggest retail company in Korea, recently opened a mall in Taegu, the nation’s third biggest city. Executives looked at about 40 shopping centers around the world, but ended up modeling theirs on the Grove. The 20-acre mall is called Easiapolis – shorthand for “East Asian City.”

The typical Korean mall is a big department store in a high-rise downtown. Easiapolis is only three floors tall, and in addition to shopping, offers dining, entertainment and social activities. Like the Grove, it is neither downtown nor in the distant suburbs.

“We’ve benchmarked the Grove in Los Angeles to make the mall a lifestyle center,” said Sunghwa Hong, managing director of the company’s new-format division.

Easiapolis has about 110 stores, plus movie theaters. It has more outdoor features than typically seen in Korea. There’s a park for kids, a flower garden, community room and library. It even has a small train for children – but it’s not as big as the one at the Grove.

“With a growing income, there is the increasing need for something new and different in Korea,” said Donghee Park, managing director of Easiapolis. “That’s why we introduced this new concept mall to fulfill the needs for both shopping and leisure.”