Gwanak-gu Designates Gwanak Jungbu Market as the 3rd Alley-type Shopping District

Designation of Alley-type Shopping District Following Miseong-dong Dokkaebi Market (No.1) and Nangok Alley-type Shopping District (No.2) Contributes to Strengthening Competitiveness and Self-sustainability of Local Store Clusters Facing COVID-19 Challenges, Enabling Market Environment Improvement and Support for Various Projects Including Onnuri Gift Certificate Handling

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) has designated ‘Gwanak Jungbu Market (Gwanak-ro 222 and 26 other lots)’ located in Haengun-dong as the 3rd Alley-type Shopping District, accelerating efforts to revitalize the alley commercial area struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

The area is a densely populated residential district with large apartment complexes and is adjacent to Seoul National University Station, attracting a large floating population and excellent accessibility, raising high expectations for development potential following the designation as an alley-type shopping district.

To revitalize the local commercial area, the district proactively enacted the 'Ordinance on Support for Revitalization of Alley-type Shopping Districts in Gwanak-gu, Seoul' last year, establishing a legal foundation allowing designation of alley-type shopping districts where more than 30 small business-operated stores are densely located within an area of 2,000㎡ or less.

Additionally, this year, to revitalize alley commercial areas by region, the district has focused on strengthening merchant capabilities through support for merchant organization, individual store consulting, and various training programs, solidifying the internal foundation. As a result, following the designation of Nangok Alley-type Shopping District as the 2nd district on the 20th, the ‘Gwanak Jungbu Market’ was designated as the 3rd alley-type shopping district on the 28th, marking a great achievement.

Going forward, Gwanak Jungbu Market, like existing traditional markets and shopping districts, will improve the market environment through various project supports, and with the handling of Onnuri gift certificates, customer inflow is expected to increase, leading to revitalization of the commercial area and increased sales.

Gwanak Jungbu Market was selected in 2021 for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s ‘Resident Participation Digital-based Local Community Field Problem Solving Project’ contest and is currently implementing the 'Smart Jungbu Market Development Project' supporting online payment and delivery systems.

Through this, various programs such as ‘Visible Radio Podcast’ and ‘Half-price Live Commerce’ are being introduced, and this designation as an alley-type shopping district is expected to have a significant positive effect on revitalizing the local commercial area.

A district official stated, “We expect the designation of Gwanak-gu’s 3rd alley-type shopping district to bring a fresh breeze to alley stores and small business owners struggling due to COVID-19,” and added, “We will continue to do our best to discover more alley-type shopping districts.”

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