Why Has Jung-gu Hwanghak-dong Kitchen Furniture Street Become Cleaner?

The appearance of signs in Hwanghak-dong, Jung-gu after improvement

Jung-gu Completes Signboard Improvement Project for 120 Stores in Hwanghak-dong Kitchen Furniture Street by the End of 2022

LED Signboards Expected to Reduce Electricity Costs and Enhance Store Promotion... 126 Illegal and Abandoned Signboards Renovated, Brightening and Improving the Street Environment

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seoul’s Jung-gu District Office (Mayor Kim Gil-seong) has replaced 120 store signboards in Hwanghak-dong Kitchen Furniture Street with LED signboards amid the anticipated electricity rate hike this year.

LED signboards reduce electricity costs, have a long lifespan, and can express the store’s personality in various ways, making them highly effective for advertising.

The target area spans from Toegye-ro 81-gil to 83-gil, a place recently nicknamed “Hot Sindang” due to the increasing number of young visitors. The old and characterless signboards were replaced to attract more young people to the area.

The district invested 300 million KRW to carry out the signboard improvement project from January to December last year and also renovated 126 illegal and abandoned signboards that did not meet regulations.

A residents’ committee of 10 members, composed of store owners and local residents, actively led the project. Although many stores were initially reluctant to participate, the committee and responsible officials continuously visited and persuaded them, encouraging more stores to join. Some stores applied after seeing neighboring shops successfully transform their atmosphere with new signboards. Participating stores received financial support of up to 2.5 million KRW.

When producing the signboards, the texture and color of wood materials were utilized to reflect the characteristics of the kitchen furniture street, and store owners’ requests were incorporated into detailed designs to capture each store’s individuality.

Mayor Kim Gil-seong stated, “The brightened Hwanghak-dong Kitchen Furniture Street has received positive feedback from parents of nearby daycare centers. Since pleasant streets are closely related to pedestrian safety, we will continue to support projects that improve not only signboards but also the aging urban landscape.”

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