Gwangju Dong-gu Dongmyeong-dong 'ACC Cooperative Stores' Surpass 200 Locations

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Im Taek) announced on the 8th that the ‘ACC Cooperative Stores’ initiative, promoted to revitalize the Dongmyeong-dong commercial district, has surpassed 200 stores in just over a year and a half.

In June 2019, Dong-gu signed a win-win cooperation agreement for the mutual development of Dongmyeong-dong with the National Asia Culture Center (Acting Director Park Tae-young) and the Dongmyeong-dong merchants’ association, ‘Dongmyeong Community Win-Win Council’ (Chairman Choi Bok-hyun).

According to the agreement, both parties have made significant efforts for regional development through mutual cooperation such as revitalizing the local economy, and currently, 202 stores are participating.

Stores participating in the agreement are designated as ‘ACC Cooperative Stores’ in Dongmyeong-dong, and customers using these stores can park for free for one hour at the Culture Center’s affiliated parking lot.

Additionally, customers who have attended paid programs such as exhibitions and performances at the Culture Center receive a 5% discount when using the cooperative stores.

‘ACC Partners’ signboards are attached to ACC cooperative stores, and in addition to online promotion, notices are placed inside the stores to ensure customers do not miss out on the benefits.

Through this, illegally parked vehicles, which caused significant inconvenience to pedestrians visiting Dongmyeong-dong due to poor parking conditions, have greatly decreased, resulting in substantial improvements to the pedestrian environment.

From March to June last year, to support merchants in the Dongmyeong-dong area struggling due to the spread of COVID-19, the free parking time at the Culture Center’s affiliated parking lot was extended and operated for two hours, establishing a successful local win-win model.

Recognizing these achievements, Dong-gu was honored with the grand prize in the ‘2020 Alley Economy Recovery Support Project Best Case’ hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in October last year.

Im Taek, Mayor of Dong-gu, said, “I hope that small business owners and self-employed people, who have been going through difficult times due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, can gain some strength through the win-win agreement,” and added, “We will continue to expand ACC cooperative stores and explore various methods to revive alleyway commercial districts such as Dongmyeong-dong.”

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