Seocho District Designates Bangbae Cafe Alley as the 7th Alley-Type Shopping District

Cluster of 252 Stores
Onnuri Gift Certificate Now Accepted

On May 12, Seocho District in Seoul announced that it had designated Bangbae Cafe Alley (around Bangbae Jungang-ro in Bangbae-bon-dong) as the "7th Alley-Type Shopping District" in Seocho, marking the district's first such designation for 2026.

Commercial area map. Provided by Seocho-gu.

An alley-type shopping district is a system that grants similar status to a traditional market by designating areas, regardless of business type, where 15 or more small business stores are clustered within 2,000 square meters. Upon designation, businesses can receive various forms of support, such as registering as Onnuri Gift Certificate affiliates, promotional marketing assistance, and eligibility to apply for government-sponsored projects. Bangbae Cafe Alley, with its area of 28,005.6 square meters and a total of 252 stores, is expected to offer substantial benefits to many small business owners within the commercial area.

The newly designated Bangbae Cafe Alley is recognized as the origin of Korea’s nationwide cafe streets that led trends in the 1980s. Even today, it remains a representative alley business district in Seocho, frequented by residents for its concentration of popular restaurants, cafes, and workshops. Both the district office and local residents have been collaborating on a variety of revitalization efforts to restore its former reputation.

Last year, the district improved the area around Bangbae Jungang-ro by installing string lights and creating entrance sculptures, and is currently refurbishing the aged sidewalks. At the end of last year, the "Bangbae Cafe Alley Festa" attracted 10,000 residents to a car-free cafe street for one day, turning nearby shops into bustling hubs. With this alley-type shopping district designation, the district anticipates renewed vitality in the area, as it will now be able to expand Onnuri Gift Certificate usage and implement various support programs.

With this latest designation, more than half of the district's 12 major commercial districts have now achieved alley-type shopping district status, signaling good progress toward the district’s plan to complete designations for all commercial districts within the first half of the year. Seocho District intends to continue supporting the organization of alley business districts, especially in areas lacking merchant organizations and in newly discovered commercial zones, to actively promote further alley-type shopping district designations.

The district has been making significant efforts toward alley-type shopping district designation since last year. By actively communicating with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seocho District fully revised the "Seocho District Traditional Market and Commercial Area Development Management Ordinance" in July 2025, lowering the store density requirement within 2,000 square meters from 30 stores to 15. In cooperation with the Seocho Comprehensive Support Center of the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation, the district is offering multifaceted support to enable merchants to take the initiative in pursuing alley-type shopping district status.

A district official stated, "According to the presidents of the Bandae-gil and Jamwon-hagil alley-type shopping district merchant associations, which were designated last year, allowing the use of Onnuri Gift Certificates has led to an average sales increase of over 20% per store. We hope that the newly designated Bangbae Cafe Alley alley-type shopping district will also serve as a foundation for revitalizing the local economy and alley commercial districts."

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