Shopping haven: Dongdaemun district
The tide of popularity of Korean soap operas is sweeping into shopping forays. There is a constant inflow of foreign visitors to Korea who are eager to purchase “Korean-made” goods, rather than simply sitting and watching a flood of cultural content come into their home territories.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), the number of Chinese visitors to Korea has surpassed 2.9 million as of May this year alone.
Shopping at the Dongdaemun district in central Seoul is on the “must-do” list for foreign tourists. (photo: Jeon Han)
Chinese tourists have one thing on their “must-do” list whenever they visit Korea: To go shopping in the Dongdaemun district. The neighborhood is the biggest shopping district of Seoul, and is home to about 40 shopping malls with more than 35,000 stores and 150,000 workers. Unlike its siblings in other areas, Dongdaemun shopping malls stay open for late-night shoppers.
The streets of Dongdaemun in central Seoul are crowded with high-rise shopping malls and shoppers from both home and abroad. (photo: Jeon Han)
To meet the needs of such Chinese shoppers, it has become a “must” for stores to have Chinese or Chinese-speaking employees.
One of the many shopping malls in the district, LOTTE FITIN, too, has seen a sharp rise in foreign shoppers of late. “We have lots of foreign visitors coming, 70 percent of whom are from China,” said General Manager Jeong Jun-teak of the shopping center. “We have approximately 150 Chinese workers on standby so that Chinese shoppers can feel free to do their shopping here without any communication problem.”
The shopping mall recently welcomed a “very important person” from China. On July 3 Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan, on her official visit to Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping, hit the mall at night, taking late-night shoppers by surprise.
Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan purchases traditional snacks at the shopping mall LOTTE FITIN in Dongdaemun, on July 3. (photo: Jeon Han)
Looking around the sixth floor for about 20 minutes, the Chinese first lady stopped at Good Food, a traditional Korean food shop. It is said she purchased two sets of sweet rice yakgwa, a traditional Korean dessert made with flour and honey, and a bag of grain cookies.
“The first lady said that it is somewhat of a ‘mission’ to bring yakgwa back to her home country,” said staff Lu Il-lan at the shop. “The yakgwa set she bought there is a traditional confectionary and was made by yakgwa master Park Sun-ae. Even the next day, her secretary came again and purchased three more bags of other traditional snacks,” she added.
Since the VIP’s visit, the shop has seen a sharp rise in the number of Chinese shoppers. The mother-of-pearl craft shop right next door has also benefitted.
Nabillera, a mother-of-pearl craft shop on the sixth floor of the shopping mall LOTTE FITIN in Dongdaemun welcomes the visiting Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan on July 3. (photo: Jeon Han)
At this shop, the first lady bought three hairpins inlaid with mother-of-pearl. “She really liked these handicraft hairpins, each piece designed and inlaid through handwork,” said Gao Hai-nam who manages the shop. Gao is one of about 150 Chinese-speaking workers at the shopping mall.
Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan purchases three handicraft hairpins at Nabillera, a mother-of-pearl craft shop at the shopping mall LOTTE FITIN in Dongdaemun on July 3. (photo: Jeon Han)
“Many Chinese shoppers take an interest in traditional patterns of mother-of-pearl handicraft goods from hairpins to jewel boxes and business card cases. Our products have different patterns of their own. Despite being high in price, they are quite popular,” Gao added.
Next to the shop is “Galley Tong,” a traditional Korean food shop. The first lady didn’t miss out on shopping there for healthy, traditional goods and bought a small jar of gochujang, red pepper paste.
“Our gochujang is a chemical-free one with no artificial preservatives,” said manager Yoo Kyeung-hee. “We cannot talk about gochujang without mentioning Sunchang, a county in Jeollabuk-do (North Jeolla Province) famous for the sauce. And gochujang master Moon Ok-rae from the very region makes our products.”
Besides that product, sweet sliced red ginseng is another sought-after item among foreign shoppers, she added.
The manager at the traditional Korean food shop “Gallery Tong” holds out a jar of gochujang, the one that visiting Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan purchased on July 3. (photo: Jeon Han)
“We are welcoming a growing number of shoppers from other countries these days, and since the first lady’s surprise visit, sales have soared more than 200 percent,” said Kim Hyo-geun, the Operations Manager of LOTTE FITIN.
Foreign visitors pose for a commemorative photo sitting on the chairs specially set up in remembrance of Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan’s visit to the shopping mall LOTTE FITIN, in Dongdaemun, central Seoul. (photo: Jeon Han)
By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
jiae5853@korea.kr