Seocho-gu Increases Competitiveness by Adding 'Art' to Local Shops

Recruitment of Participating Stores and Artists for the ‘Seoripul Artterior Project’ until the 31st

The Only Autonomous District in Seoul Selected for the ‘Our Neighborhood Store Artterior Project’ for 5 Consecutive Years

Up to 100 Participating Stores Supported with up to 2.8 Million KRW Each by the District... 36 Local Artists Matched

Matching of Participating Stores with Digital Consultants... Providing Business Consulting and Promotion Support to Create Synergy

Mkkongs (After Earning Construction)

Seocho-gu, a city of culture and arts, is joining forces with local artists to strengthen the competitiveness and increase sales of neighborhood stores. From interior and exterior walls, signboards, and lighting to online marketing, one-stop support is provided to secure their competitiveness.

Seocho-gu (District Mayor Jeon Seong-su) is implementing the ‘2023 Seoripul Artterior’ project, which supports the improvement of store interior and exterior designs within commercial districts in collaboration with local artists. Participating stores and artists are being recruited until the 31st.

The district’s ‘Seoripul Artterior Project’ connects small business stores with local artists to support improvements in interior and exterior spaces tailored to each store’s characteristics, as well as integrated branding including product images and logos.

This year, Seocho-gu was the only autonomous district in Seoul to be selected for the ‘Our Neighborhood Store Artterior’ public contest for five consecutive years, securing 144 million KRW from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and investing 500 million KRW from the district budget, pushing the total project scale to 644 million KRW.

To ensure high-quality and distinctive design improvements, the district increased the number of participating stores from 60 last year to 100 this year, and supports material and construction costs up to 2.8 million KRW per store, the highest among autonomous districts. Additionally, 36 participating artists will be recruited. Each artist will be responsible for 3 to 4 stores and receive an activity fee of 4.6 million KRW.

The district will select the final participants through a selection committee review next month.

Afterwards, the district will match stores and artists appropriately, considering the type of improvements desired by the stores and the artistic capabilities of the artists. They will facilitate continuous communication and collaborative work from initial idea meetings through production. Once the desired direction is decided, the artists will realize it through design.

In addition, the district provides separate support for participating stores wishing to receive digital consulting. They can receive support for online marketing such as blog management and SNS promotion, strengthening store competitiveness and leading to increased sales.

The recruitment target is small business stores located in Seocho-gu with fewer than five regular employees, operating as storefront stores that sell products or services. Franchise stores, entertainment businesses, and stores that have previously participated in the Artterior project are excluded.

Participating artists must be visual or plastic arts majors residing in Seoul or having a business address there. Additional points are given to those who are Seocho-gu residents or have experience working within Seocho-gu.

For more details, please refer to the announcement and related information on the Seocho-gu Office website.

A participant from last year, Mr. A, expressed satisfaction, saying, “By communicating with the artist and considering how to improve the store design, we changed the awning and signboard, and sales noticeably increased afterward. The neighborhood has brightened up, and local residents have been full of compliments.”

So far, the district has improved the design of a total of 310 small business stores up to last year. Since 2021, it has also provided online marketing consulting to 115 small business stores, receiving favorable reviews.

Seocho-gu Mayor Jeon Seong-su said, “Through this project, we will make further efforts to infuse Seocho’s unique colors into the alleys by utilizing artists’ talents, creating vibrant Seocho alley commercial districts.”

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