How Gwangjang Market is attracting new generation of shoppers
Suzy and her two friends from Taiwan wandered through Gwangjang Market in central Seoul on a crisp autumn afternoon. All professional dancers, they visited Korea for dance lessons and stopped by the market to try its famous yukhoe (marinated raw beef). After sharing a bowl of raw beef topped with egg yolk and pear slices at a food stall on the eastern end of the market, the trio energetically explored the hip new additions to the market. At Off Beauty, a warehouse-style beauty outlet, one of them picked up a hand cream by Vareli, a Korean lifestyle brand. Their itinerary reflects the changing face of one of Seoul’s oldest traditional markets. Once dominated by small vendors selling hanbok (traditional Korean clothing), textiles and street food, Gwangjang Market is now embracing corporate-owned fashion and beauty shops, convenience stores and coffee shop chains, catering to a new wave of tourists. For Afiqah Razak, 32, a visitor from Brunei traveling with her husband and friends, the market’s transformation was striking. She stopped by to purchase silk for baju kurung — Bruneian tr
