Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (hereinafter referred to as the MSS) visited the Bukchon-gaedong-gil alley shopping district in Jongno-gu, Seoul and the Geonridan-gil alley shopping district in Gwangjin-gu on the 6th to inspect the operation status of the alley shopping districts and listen to the merchants’ livelihood issues.
Bukchon Gyedong-gil Alley Shopping District is adjacent to Bukchon and Gahoe-dong, and is a representative commercial district in Jongno-gu comprised of various businesses including restaurants, cafes, clothing and flower retailers, workshops, and guesthouses.
The Bukchon Gyedong-gil alley-type shopping district was designated as an alley-type shopping district on January 23 last year, and was able to apply for various government support projects. Accordingly, it was also selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ market management package support project this year.
In addition, since consumers can use Onnuri gift certificates in alley-type shopping districts, they can utilize them as a customer marketing element and also participate in Onnuri gift certificate special sales and refund events.
Minister Oh Young-joo visited various stores in the alley-type shopping district of Bukchon-gyedong-gil, including art exhibitions, flower shops, eco-bag stores, and handkerchief clothing retailers, and thoroughly looked into current issues in the field through tea meetings with merchants and merchant associations.
The next place we visited was the Geonridan-gil alley shopping street, which is located near Konkuk University. It is already a famous food alley shopping district among university students and nearby residents, and was designated as an alley shopping street on November 4th of last year.
Although it has only been a few months since it was designated as an alley-type shopping street, the number of stores has reached 155, and the merchants' association has expressed expectations for consumer marketing, such as accelerating the adoption of Onnuri gift certificates.
Minister Oh Young-joo said, “We are in the process of establishing a plan to actively discover and foster alley-type shopping districts,” and added, “We will provide customized support that suits their characteristics based on voices from the field.”
Minister Oh then visited the 1 Euro Project Elephant Villa located in the Bukseongsu area, met with local creators who are innovating the region with creative ideas, and heard about local innovation cases and brand creation cases of participating small business owners.
The 1 Euro Project Elephant Villa is a four-story villa in Songjeong-dong that had been abandoned for two years and renovated for three years at 1 euro. It is a representative case of regional revitalization and coexistence achieved by renting it out free of charge to about 10 small business brands.
Recently, we are experimenting with interconnecting local merchants, spaces, and cultures, such as building a new community hotel for travelers around Elephant Villa and expanding the 1 Euro Project to Bukgajwa-dong.
Minister Oh Young-joo said, “Local creators are collaborating with local communities in various ways to turn small business owners into competitive brands and local commercial districts into attractive neighborhood stores,” adding, “We will continue to spare no support so that many local creators who realize the values of innovation and coexistence, like the 1 Euro Project, can emerge.”
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