Gwanak-gu Develops 10 Key Alley Commercial Areas by Region

Establishing Self-Sustaining Foundations Such as Local Store Artterior Business... Issuance of GwanakHimkok Gift Certificates to Overcome COVID-19, Continued Support for Gwanak-gu Small Business Development Fund

10 Regions for Revitalizing Local Commercial Districts by Area

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is injecting vitality into the local alleyway commercial districts, which have been stagnated due to COVID-19, to enable sustainable development.

First, the district is investing approximately 3.6 billion KRW in 10 major alleyway commercial districts selected through a research project. Common foundations for self-sustaining commercial districts are being established, including merchant organization and consulting support, infrastructure development such as road and sculpture installation, and brand development and marketing projects to improve the business environment.

For each alleyway commercial district, a merchant organization with more than 30 merchants is formed through capacity-building education, establishing a cooperation and communication system centered on local residents.

To highlight the unique characteristics of each alleyway commercial district, alley-specific brands are being developed, and registration standards for alley-type shopping districts have been prepared through the amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on the Promotion of Traditional Markets and Shopping Districts.

Currently, a professional company has been selected and projects are being actively promoted for Sinrim-ro 11-gil and Haengun-gil, while the remaining eight alleyway commercial districts will be pursued next year.

Additionally, infrastructure development such as road paving, store sign improvements, and installation of guide signs for each alleyway commercial district is underway.

The ‘Our Neighborhood Store Artterior Support Project,’ which improves interior and product design by utilizing the sensibility and talent of local artists for small business stores, is also receiving great response from small business owners.

This year, the project was selected in a Seoul city public contest and received a budget of 150 million KRW. The district is additionally investing 310 million KRW to select 40 local artists and support 150 small business stores.

This project is scheduled to be completed in January next year and contributes not only to revitalizing commercial districts but also to job creation.

To increase sales of small business stores struggling due to COVID-19, the ‘Gwanak Himkok Gift Certificate’ was also issued with a value of 100 million KRW. Gwanak Himkok is an abbreviation of ‘Cheer up, stay home,’ and is a delivery-only Gwanak Love Gift Certificate issued for small business stores with reduced customer visits due to COVID-19. It can be used at restaurants and food ingredient markets affiliated with Zero Delivery Union.

In particular, the Zero Pay-based Gwanak Love Gift Certificate, which can only be used in Gwanak-gu, was issued with 23 billion KRW this year and was sold out early amid strong resident support.

Financial support continues to help small business owners grow independently. The district has expanded the Gwanak-gu Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund to 6 billion KRW and, instead of supporting twice a year, has been providing monthly support to local small business owners since May. The loan interest rate was also lowered from 1.5% to 0.8%, providing significant support to small business owners struggling with cash flow shortages.

In particular, the district is carrying out major projects to boost alleyway commercial districts, such as the ‘Starlight Sinsari Commercial District Renaissance’ project, which will invest a total of 8 billion KRW over five years until 2024 in the Sinrim Station area including Sundae Town, and the Seoul city ‘Living Commercial District Promotion Project,’ which secured a total budget of 3 billion KRW by 2023 to transform the deteriorated neighborhood stores in Nangok-dong into living stores frequently used by residents.

Mayor Park Jun-hee stated, “Just as the capillaries in our body supply blood to every corner to create a healthy body, we will do our best to ensure that vibrant alleyway commercial districts can strengthen the local economy.” He added, “Especially since the alley economy has become more difficult due to the COVID-19 crisis, we will focus on revitalizing the local and alleyway commercial districts.”

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