Highlighting Gangdong-gu's 'Singsing Dream Unmanned Sales Stand' Amid COVID-19

Safe Food Purchases for Residents Without Contact, Expanded Market Opportunities for Farmers... Triple Benefits

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Amid the spread of ‘contactless’ methods across all aspects of life due to the impact of COVID-19, the ‘Singsing Dream Unmanned Sales Stand’ operated by Gangdong-gu (District Mayor Lee Jeong-hoon) is gaining new attention.

Since opening Seoul’s first ‘Eco-friendly Local Food Unmanned Sales Stand’ at the district office’s second building in October 2017, Gangdong-gu has set up unmanned sales stands at a total of five locations, including Sangil-dong Community Center, Gangdong-gu Public Health Center, Ise Food (an eco-friendly agricultural product store), and Sangsanarurae (來), an anchor facility for Amsa urban regeneration.

The purpose is to provide safe food to residents and secure stable sales channels for farmers.

At these stands, fresh agricultural products produced on the same day from 20 eco-friendly certified farms in the region are packaged and displayed for sale without distribution margins. Agricultural products not sold by the next morning are collected and either sold at a discount at the eco-friendly local food direct store ‘Singsing Dream’ or donated to food markets for low-income groups.

The unmanned sales stands operate on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. About 10 types of agricultural products, including leafy vegetables and salad greens produced in Gangdong-gu, can be purchased at affordable prices ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 KRW.

When purchasing, customers select the agricultural products and put the indicated amount into the box or make contactless payments using Zero Pay or Gangdong Love Gift Certificates. However, due to COVID-19, the Public Health Center and Sangsanarurae (來) have temporarily suspended operations, while the other three locations remain available.

Lee Jeong-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, stated, “Based on the eco-friendly agricultural product direct store ‘Singsing Dream,’ we operate unmanned sales stands so that residents can access local food nearby. In this era where contactless transactions are preferred due to COVID-19, we plan to continuously expand the unmanned sales stand system that allows residents and farmers to coexist.”

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