Yeongdeungpo-gu Takes Initiative to Revitalize Traditional Markets... Employees Spend 130 Million Won

Weekly Visits by All Employees to Traditional Markets and Restaurants... Participation of 9,533 People So Far... 131,013,900 KRW Spent to Support Local Economy

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Chae Hyun-il) is actively encouraging all district office employees to visit and use traditional markets and small restaurants every week as part of support measures for small business owners directly affected by COVID-19.

As cases of community transmission of COVID-19 continue to surge, the government recommends refraining from outings and gatherings to prevent the spread and infection, and citizens are voluntarily participating in 'staying home' due to fear of infection.

Accordingly, the floating population in small local commercial areas has sharply decreased, putting the economic foundation of small business owners at risk of collapse. Even after the COVID-19 situation calms down, the recovery of the real economy is expected to be slow, making support measures for small business owners urgent.

In response, since March, the district office has encouraged all employees to take the lead in consumption activities that revive the local economy by visiting traditional markets and small restaurants in the area weekly, and plans to continue this until the COVID-19 situation is resolved.

The district office encourages all employees to shop and hold meetings at traditional markets at least once a week by department, and also to use restaurants and other small eateries that suffered business losses due to being disclosed as places visited by confirmed cases, such as for lunch, thereby helping to increase the actual sales of small business owners.

In particular, considering the different usage situations and conditions by department, the district office arranged for visits to different traditional markets and small restaurant areas (dong) each month by department to ensure balanced consumption throughout the entire Yeongdeungpo area.

So far, looking at the usage performance of employees at traditional markets and small restaurants, a total of 9,533 people from 10 departments participated, spending a total of 131,013,900 KRW.

Among them, 2,508 people participated in traditional markets, spending 43,082,740 KRW. The number of visitors to small local restaurants was 7,025, with spending amounting to 87,931,160 KRW.

An employee residing in Yeongdeungpo said, “I used to often visit to buy side dishes for dinner because of the lively atmosphere and warm hospitality unique to traditional markets, but recently it seems that the number of customers has noticeably decreased, which is very unfortunate. I hope to frequently visit neighborhood markets and restaurants until the COVID-19 situation ends and things return to normal, to contribute even a little.”

Chae Hyun-il, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, said, “We ask for kind consumption to support traditional markets and small business owners struggling due to COVID-19,” and added, “With the lead of Yeongdeungpo-gu employees, we will definitely revive the local commercial districts that are the foundation of the regional economy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.