Start of Gwanak-style Artterior Business

Gwanak-gu supports 3,000 small business stores with up to 1.5 million KRW for interior and exterior environment and design improvements

‘Non-matching type’ newly established to support general environment improvements to expand beneficiary small business owners

Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak-gu, participating in the Artterior project site

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is launching the ‘2023 Gwanak-style Artterior Project’ to support small business store improvements.

‘Artterior’ is a compound word of Art and Interior, a project where local artists and small business owners collaborate to customize improvements from interior and exterior space enhancements to product branding for small business stores.

The district has been promoting this project since 2019 to create jobs and provide diverse experiences for local cultural artists, enhance the competitiveness of small business owners by highlighting each store’s unique characteristics, and revitalize the depressed neighborhood commercial districts.

With active participation and positive response from small business owners, the district has expanded the support scale every year, supporting a total of 1,265 stores and involving 407 local artists in the project up to last year.

According to last year’s satisfaction survey, the satisfaction rate of participating small business owners reached 90%, showing very high preference, and this year the project will be newly promoted by actively reflecting the opinions of small business owners.

In particular, reflecting the opinions of small business owners who want general environment improvements for their stores, a ‘non-matching type’ has been newly established to allow participation without matching with local artists, thereby expanding the beneficiary scope.

Small business owners who want functional environment improvements without design improvements can also participate in the project, and those who are actively interested in design improvements can be matched with local artists to further enhance the win-win effect.

Additionally, by strengthening the ‘safety management plan,’ the project aims to prevent accidents involving local artists and on-site workers and create a safe environment, while establishing ‘defect repair standards’ for installed facilities such as signs and canopies to provide after-support for a certain period even after the project ends.

The support target is approximately 300 small business store-type shops within the district with fewer than five regular employees who wish to improve the interior and exterior design and environment of their stores, with a maximum support amount of 1.5 million KRW per store. However, entertainment bars, franchises and chains, and stores participating in the same or similar projects are excluded from support.

The application period is until March 20, and applicants can check the Gwanak-gu website, fill out the application form, and submit it along with required documents either by visiting (4th floor, Regional Commercial Revitalization Division, Gwanak-gu Office, or the relevant community service center) or by email.

For more details, check the announcement or contact the district’s Regional Commercial Revitalization Division.

Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak-gu, said, “We aim to support more small business owners through the newly changed Artterior project this year,” and added, “We will continue to discover and promote more diverse and new projects to support small business owners and do our best to revitalize the local economy.”

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