Street vendors heading downhill

Stall-owners blame relocation plan for steep fall in sales

By Chung Min-uck

Kim, 80, was sitting in his spot in a back alley of Jongno in central Seoul Wednesday with no customers showing any interest in the candies displayed on his stall.

Kim, who has been selling candies since 1984, said his daily sales dropped by as much as 40 percent after moving to an area designated by the Jongno ward office, compared to the earnings he previously enjoyed on the main street.

Kim and most other vendors selling bags, accessories and other goods in their respective stalls on the “Street of Youth,” also known as “Piano Street,” said their sales have been halved since they moved to the designated zone as required by the ward office.

“It’s not just about the drop in sales. I have to pay 100,000 won in tax every month and with material costs rising, I have no way to make ends meet,” said the veteran street vendor who didn’t want his full name used.

Previously, vendors did not have to pay any taxes since they sold goods without registering with the ward office. Currently, they have to pay 0.015 percent of the value of their plot in taxes.

The stall-owner’s complaint comes as street vendors in Insa-dong are in a dispute with the ward office over a relocation plan which calls for them to move from the main street to back alleys that are less visible to visitors.

The steep fall in sales for vendors who have been relocated to government-designated alleys in Jongno is prompting those in Insa-dong to continue a 40-day-long protest.

They argue that the relocation plan has proved to be a failure, expressing concerns that they could suffer the same fate as others who have already been moved.

They add that without greater aid from the government, their relocation to “specialized zones” will only deteriorate their ability to reach customers and eventually drive them out of business.

Since it is obvious that the ward office isn’t willing to reconsider its plan, the Insa-dong vendors appear to have no other choice but to continue their fight against demolition workers.

In 2009, Seoul City announced the relocation of around 600 street vendors in Jongno, central Seoul, to seven different specialized alleys connected to the main streets to make the downtown area more pedestrian-friendly.

On top of old vendors, owners of even name-brand outlets have recently been selling goods on the Piano Street. But they are also suffering from sluggish sales.

“It’s only been a month since I started operating here and I have only sold 1 million won worth of items. I wish the government could turn this area into a fashion street since there is a large mobile population of youngsters in Jongno,” said Lee Eung-in, an outlet shop operator.

However, the Jongno ward office has a quite different view.

Kim O-hyun, a senior official there, claimed that the authorities cannot just act in the favor of the vendors since other regular shop-owners along the streets are paying much higher taxes of several million won a month.

He said that the government could lower the tax rate, but explained that it will not solve the basic problems faced by the vendors.

“The current business environment is much different from that of 10 years ago. Young consumers prefer convenience stores to street vendors. They have to admit that street-selling is a declining business anyway. The only way for them to survive is to specialize or come up with attractive promotional ideas,” said Kim.

With the ward office and vendors being poles apart over the relocation plan, the latter are expected to continue their struggle to resist the scheme, one passerby in Insa-dong said.