Yongsan-gu, Promoting Local Business Incubation

Discovering New Commercial Districts... The District Mayor Visits to Ensure Merchants Become the Stars of Popular Commercial Areas

Seoul's First 'Alleyway Commercial Community Support Contest'... 45 Million KRW Invested

Yongsan Ttaenggyeoyo Gift Certificates Accelerate Alleyway Commercial District Revitalization

Lowering the Bar for Alleyway Shopping District Registration, Allowing Support Similar to Traditional Markets

Yongsan-gu (District Mayor Park Hee-young) is launching a full-scale incubation of commercial districts to boost local economic vitality.

Commercial district incubation will be promoted through discovering new commercial districts, supporting alleyway commercial communities, issuing Yongsan Ttaenggyeoyo gift certificates, and registering alleyway shopping districts.

Seoul's First 'Alleyway Commercial Community Support Contest' Launched

The district established the 'Ordinance on Fostering and Revitalizing Alleyway Commercial Communities' last year to create a foundation for the co-growth of small business owners in commercial districts. Previously, support was only available for registered commercial districts such as traditional markets and alleyway shopping districts.

Revitalization of commercial districts begins with collaboration among individual merchants. A central point of contact is essential to sustain merchant collaboration. Yongsan-gu is the first among Seoul's autonomous districts to initiate a support contest for alleyway commercial communities.

The Yongsan-gu alleyway commercial community refers to an organization composed of more than 30 small business owners based in the same commercial district, with an elected representative.

The district is accepting applications for the alleyway commercial community revitalization support project until the 21st. Selected projects will receive approximately 15 million KRW in district funds to promote festivals, publicity, and events within the alleyway commercial district.

On the 13th, Mayor Park Hee-young visited Sunheon Hwangguibi-gil to meet with the merchants' association representative. The Sunheon Hwangguibi-gil Merchants' Association (representative Park Sang-hyun) was formed in February this year, consisting of about 60 merchants located along approximately 500 meters from the main gate of Sookmyung Women's University to Cheongpa-ro 47-gil.

Sunheon Hwangguibi-gil is an honorary road commemorating Sunheon Hwangguibi, who established Myeongshin Girls' School, the predecessor of Sookmyung Women's University during the Korean Empire era, sowing the seeds of modern women's education.

The Sunheon Hwangguibi-gil Merchants' Association submitted their contest project plan on the 5th of this month. The plan centers on an event where customers receive discount coupons by stamping after using the stores.

Park Sang-hyun (50), representative of the Sunheon Hwangguibi-gil Merchants' Association, said, "The commercial district has been depressed due to about two years of non-face-to-face classes during the pandemic," adding, "The merchants' desire to revitalize the street together is bursting out with various ideas."

Mayor Park said, "Sunheon Hwangguibi-gil will establish itself as an attractive commercial district boasting the freshness and cost-effectiveness unique to Daehangno," and added, "Let's join forces so that the first alleyway commercial community's success can have a positive influence on other commercial districts."

Yongsan Ttaenggyeoyo Gift Certificates Accelerate Alleyway Commercial District Revitalization

Sunheon Hwangguibi-gil is a Sookdae commercial district with 20-30s single-person households as the main customer base. Besides the alleyway commercial community contest support, the district believes that registering as a franchise on the delivery app Ttaenggyeoyo will also help revitalize the commercial district.

Ttaenggyeoyo allows customers to scan a QR code on the store table to order food via table order, make takeout reservations, and store reservations. Franchisees save on kiosk installation costs for ordering, and customers can use offline services in addition to existing delivery services, making it popular among franchise owners and young people.

The district signed a business agreement with Shinhan Bank in April this year and has been issuing delivery app-exclusive gift certificates with a 15% discount at a scale of 50 million KRW per month since May. With the issuance amount doubling in September and the start of the school term, the revitalization of the Sunheon Hwangguibi-gil commercial district is expected to accelerate.

Mayor Park emphasized, "Any small business owner in the region can register as a Ttaenggyeoyo franchise," and added, "We will do our best to widely promote the district's support policies and create success stories so that many small business owners can benefit."

Lowering the Bar for Alleyway Shopping District Registration

An alleyway shopping district is a registered area where 30 or more small business-operated stores are densely located within an area of 2,000㎡ or less, regardless of business type. They can apply for support such as Onnuri gift certificate affiliation, specialized markets, events, merchant education and joint marketing through market management packages, fire alarm facilities, and parking environment improvement projects.

Traditional markets have stricter registration requirements, such as an area of 1,000㎡ or more and 50 or more stores densely located, compared to alleyway shopping districts.

Since the enforcement of the 'Ordinance on Alleyway Shopping District Standards and Designation' in January 2022, no alleyway shopping districts have been designated in the region. Although there have been several inquiries, applications have not proceeded due to difficulties such as consent requirements for designation.

The district has decided to lower the bar for alleyway shopping district registration. On the 7th, the ordinance on alleyway shopping district standards and designation was amended to remove the requirement for consent from half of the land and building owners.

Mayor Park said, "When registering an alleyway shopping district, we can support the development of customized content suitable for the characteristics of the alleyway commercial district," and added, "The ordinance amendment will serve as a starting point for creating an ecosystem to strengthen the competitiveness of small business owners."

The Important Role of the Merchants' Association in Commercial District Revitalization

Last year, Yongmun Market (established in 1948) successfully held the Yonggeummak Festival in June, and Sinheung Market (established in 1969) completed the Yongshin Liberation Festival, confirming their potential to grow as tourist markets. This was possible because the merchants' association, led by the association president, was united.

Mayor Park said, "The district is a facilitator that helps realize the ideas of merchants who know the commercial district well," and added, "The merchants' association must take the lead for popular commercial districts to continuously develop."

With the institutional foundation for alleyway commercial district revitalization in place, the district will guide already established commercial districts to register as alleyway shopping districts and help organize merchants' associations in areas with low store density or where commercial district formation is just beginning.

Mayor Park Hee-young stated, "I will act as a sales representative of the district office, working actively on the ground so that small business owners in the region can accumulate their own business know-how and be loved for a long time."

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