Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Coex ㅡ everything for everyone
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The following is the first in a series of articles featuring tourist sites in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, where both domestic and foreign tourists can experience an alluring blend of modern and traditional attractions. — ED.
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Since it opened in May 2000, more than 500 million people have visited Coex Mall in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, and it has become a place that harbors myriads of memories, untold number of dining and shopping experiences as well as cinematic relevance.
Coex is a place where Seoulites, as well as international tourists, meet, eat and fall in love. Couples go on their first date at Coex, while marriage proposals, future plans and promises are made. Some go to watch an entertaining movie, while others enjoy browsing and shopping in between conferences and seminars.
Choi Bum-kyu, 23, a junior in the College of Business Administration at Chung-Ang University, says Coex is where he often meets his friends.
“Everyone is familiar with the Coex Mall and it is easy to make appointments to meet here,” he said. The mall is accessible from Samseong Station on subway line No. 2.
He moved to Seoul upon entering university and Coex was “a whole new world” to him. “I was shocked when I first visited Coex Aquarium,” the student said. The aquarium is known for its tunnel-like fish tanks that create a memorable underwater atmosphere.
Though rare, Choi met his high school friend at the mall by chance. “I might not have met him if it were not for Coex,” he said.
Coex is the largest underground shopping mall in Asia. There are a total of 461 stores in the mall — from the largest Megabox Theater covering 21,450 square meters to tiny 10-square-meter wide specialty shops.
About 100,000 people visit the mall daily on weekdays and the number rises 1.5 times on weekends and bad weather days. The mall estimates some 3,500 foreigners come to the mall everyday — ranging from businessmen walking over from the World Trade Center Seoul and international residents of Seoul to group tourists loaded off from buses.
More than a shopping place
Paul Young, an English language instructor from Canada, says he visits the mall about once a week since he lives nearby.
“Everything is very accessible here. It’s like a second city, or a city within a city,” he said. His favorite places in the mall are the English section of the massive bookstore Bandi and Luni’s, which stocks more than 2 million books, and the Megabox movie theater.
Providing a pleasant environment for a wide range of activities to satisfy all sorts of needs and personalities is a merit of the mall especially on a rainy day.
“When it rains or snows, the number of visitors jumps 1.5 times and so we even slightly welcome bad weather days,” Oh Su-young, Coex public relations manager, said.
Coex Mall is more than just a shopping place. It has three theaters other than the main cinema. The new Coex Artium is a musical theater with 808 seats. A performance of “Taal,” a modern representation of a Korean traditional mask dance, is going on through Sunday.
“Nowadays, people come to enjoy culture at Coex. Usually consumers make reservations in advance to go see a play or a musical, but more tickets for the shows are sold directly on site here,” Oh said.
To assist “smart” shoppers, Coex released the “My Coex” application through both Apple’s App Store and the Android Market.
The application allows visitors to view a map, find shops and directions to them and keep up with event information. When lost, taking a photo of QR codes scattered around the shopping center will also guide them to their destination within the mall.