The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Oh Young-joo, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups) announced that it will recruit a consortium comprised of (basic) local governments, merchants, and commercial district planners to participate in the '2025 Neighborhood Commercial District Development Support Project' from the 5th to March 12th.
The Neighborhood Commercial District Development Support Project is a project that aims to solve problems in neighborhood commercial districts that local merchants and residents feel, and to support commercial district entities to take the lead in researching and planning business strategies for the commercial district. It was first introduced in 2023, and has supported a total of 25 neighborhood commercial districts to date.
This year, in addition to the strategy-establishing type for linking commercial district revitalization projects, a network type was newly established to help with organization through activating communication between merchants, reflecting the characteristics of neighborhood commercial districts where organization among members is often lacking prior to strategy establishment.
◆ The types of support provided by the 25-year neighborhood commercial development center are as follows.
▲ Strategy establishment type that establishes business strategies for local businesses through collaborative projects
The strategy establishment type aims to support the establishment of commercial district governance, local archiving, and establishment of a 5-year commercial district revitalization strategy, and to link commercial district revitalization projects. This year, a total of 8 commercial district consortia will be selected and supported with up to 150 million won (national + local government funds). To apply, the main organization, such as a commercial district planner, must form a consortium with local governments, merchants, and residents, and establish a preliminary commercial district area including at least 30 stores that will promote the project.
▲ Network type that supports network activation and organization of alley merchants
The network type newly established this year selects a total of 5 or so alleyway commercial district consortia to organize and build networks for alleyway merchants and provides up to 30 million won in support. The application requirements include that the main organization, such as a commercial district planner, must establish a preliminary commercial district area with at least 15 stores (10 for areas with population decline or interest) to promote the business by forming a consortium with merchants. Local government participation is not mandatory.
We will allow private organizations to take the lead and freely promote organizational foundations and merchant networking activities with local merchants and residents, and we plan to link this with the designation of alley-type shopping districts in the future.
Lee Dae-geon, the director of Small Business Policy, said, “In the midst of the difficulties of regional extinction crisis and decline of alleyway businesses, small-unit neighborhood businesses are sometimes unable to enter government support projects because they are not organized,” adding, “We expect the neighborhood business development support project to serve as a catalyst so that not only large-scale commercial districts, but also alleyway businesses that residents encounter in their daily lives can come together and become the main players in regional revitalization.”
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will also hold a business briefing session at the Daejeon Education Center of the Small Business Market Promotion Agency (located in Dunsan-dong, Daejeon) on the 13th at 2 PM to help applicants understand. The business application period is from February 5 to March 12, and the specific business announcement can be found on the website of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups .
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