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By Kim Bo-eun, Bahk Eun-ji, Jung Min-ho
Sinchon in northwestern Seoul is home to three prestigious universities. It was once a place where young students gathered to have night-long discussions about philosophy and life. The area was also at the center of a student-led pro-democracy movement in the 1980s.
Following that, Sinchon became the symbol of youth and served as the heart of college students' lives. With large numbers of students flocking to the area, it soon developed into a commercial district filled with eateries, coffee shops and bars.
The district stretches from the Sinchon Subway Station to Yonsei and Ewha Womans universities down south to Seogang University. It still remains one of the most lucrative areas in Seoul. Day and night, it bustles with students who hang out between and after classes.
At night, Sinchon glitters with neon lights of bars. College students' drinking culture keeps these businesses running, and they thrive especially when the new semester begins in March.
Rents have soared, and Sinchon has been undergoing the same fate as many other districts in the capital which were once hot spots. Franchise stores of large companies have started dominating the area, driving out mom-and-pop stores which can no longer afford the exorbitant rent.
Losing academic spirit
With the new semester approaching, and pre-semester retreats underway, Sinchon awaits another new batch of freshmen who will dine, drink and shop in the district.
When the semester starts, bars teem with freshmen and their seniors who drink their way through the night. The streets in the morning show traces of freshmen who've drunk beyond their limits.
On one side near the subway station's exit number 3, are a cluster of "love hotels."
Sinchon is also a mega shopping district. One can find everything from cosmetics, clothing, cell phones and electronic goods. At its center is Hyundai Department Store, and Uplex, which is the more recent addition to the department store, targeting college students.
A short walk northwest leads to Ewha Womans University, where the situation is not much different. The area in front of Ewha is filled with restaurants and coffee shops, as well as clothing stores. Not a single bookstore is to be seen nearby.
"It has been a noted fact the area in front of Ewha Womans University has been excessively commercialized," said Kim Ji-min, a 26-year-old graduate student.
"The sad thing is that students don't really seem to be bothered by the fact. They are frequent customers to the stores in front of the school campus, and enjoy what they offer."
Dominated by conglomerate chains
One of the most recently disputed cases was when Taco Bell, the global American fast food giant opened a store in September 2011, right across a narrow street where a small local Mexican store had been running its business for seven years.
The owner of the store named Choi's Tacos had staged a one-man protest and posted placards opposing Taco Bell's entry for some time, to little avail. Although the store still remains in place, it is struggling due to the cheap menu offered by the food chain.
Students attending universities in the area acknowledge the change that is occurring.
"Well, I have to say that Sinchon is always busy and hip, but the commercial system of the district is getting harder on small business owners so they have no choice but to change their shops to franchised ones or give it up and leave," said Jeon Yong-rang, a 22-year-old student of Yonsei University.
"It's only about 200 meters from Sinchon Subway Station to the front gate of Yonsei University, and there are two stores of Olive Young, a drug and cosmetic chain, and four Starbuck stores," she said.
Jeon said it's harder to find small shops run by individual owners than when she was a freshman in 2011. Hongikbook, the biggest and oldest bookstore in the district established in 1960 has been at the center of a controversy recently, as it was about to close down.
The area around the building site was supposed to be converted into a commercial district, but due to a strong backlash from students and others who opposed the plan, the government changed it to let the bookstore keep running its business.
"Since online bookstores have been a thriving business, offline bookstores have gone through hard times, but Hongikbook is more meaningful, because it is located in a college area. Does it make sense that college districts have no bookstores while it is full of bars and franchise coffee shops?"
Jeon also feels that the area is short of diversity.
"I like indie films and used to go to Artreon, the oldest movie theater in Sinchon, but the theater is going to close down and will be changed to the multiplex CGV, showing only commercial films from this October. Now it's become more difficult to find theaters that show indie films in Seoul."
A flicker of hope
Only 15 years ago, there were eight bookstores in Sinchon. When the last one was faced with extinction under Seoul's redevelopment plan last year, more than 5,000 people and 100 organizations gathered signatures to save it.
And after Hongikbook rode out the crisis, it has become a symbol of hope that might still be alive in Sinchon.
"I was helpless when the bookstore faced the greatest danger since it had been established 53 years ago. It was the students and residents who saved this place," Hongikbook CEO Park Se-jin told The Korea Times. "It feels that the fate of Hongikbook is like a paper airplane that left my hand now. We'll see how much it will be able to live on."
Born and raised in Sinchon, Park studied business administration at Yonsei University. He started to get involved in management six years ago to help his father, while working for another company. But when his father died three years ago, he left the other company to concentrate on managing Hongikbook.
He said the managerial job has been tough as Sinchon has lost its status as "one of the coolest areas in Seoul."
"One obvious change taking place here is demographics. I see much less college students and people in their 30s," Park said. "It has become more conspicuous with Hongik University, which is getting more popular among young people."
He said Sinchon is losing its unique distinction as an "academic hub," where artists and college students shared their ideas with one another, which is one reason for its recent doldrums.
"If you go down the main street, you probably see only four kinds of stores: restaurants, bars, cafes and mobile phone shops," Park said. "Culture is dying out here."
But he is making an effort to bring it back. Park recently launched a book club on the fifth floor of the Hongikbook building to rekindle the scholastic spirit in Sinchon. He is also planning on revamping the floor so that people can use the place to share their artistic inspirations with others.
