Before the department stores and delivery apps, the most popular place to buy clothes in Seoul was Namdaemoon Market or Dongdaemoon market. Namdaemoon is the south gate of the original city. Dongdaemoon is the east gate of the original city. It was here that people used to go to buy new clothes or make bulk purchases or clothes and fabrics.
We went clothes shopping to buy Korean clothes as gifts for kids we know in other countries. My son went with us and got tired very quickly. There are a lot of shops and a lot of people.
He figured if he went to the market with us, he also wanted his share of new clothes. Some of the stuff he needed because he is growing quickly. Other stuff just jumped out at him because it looked cool.
Stores like this fight for existence. If they do not have a digital store as well then they lose costumers on days when the weather is bad or at times when people don't go out much. The advantage of physically shopping is you can touch the materials and try them on for size. Through meeting the store cleark there are social interactions and a sense of community is formed. This is a lot more difficult online.
I think online stores can never have the charm that physical stores used to provide. Also physical stores can never provide the service, variety and prices that online stores provide. Because of the price of labor, physical stores are slowly being transformed into online style shopping. The convenient store by our house is more like a large vending machine than a store. In order to enter the store I have to swipe my credit card. After I enter, the store records everything I pick up. When I leave the store it automatically charges everything to my credit card that I take out. There is not worker in the store. There is no checkout. I just walk in and take what I need and go. There is also no one saying "goodbye" and no one saying "You dropped your credit card" or the million things humans do that are lost in bottom line.
I don't know how long this hardware store can stay in existence while people can order the same products and better products delivered to their house when they need it. Most of these stores cater to the elderly who do not know how to order things online. Other stores cater to tourists.
It's not the same old way it used to be. There is not a friendly community of shoppers coming. These shops only exist now as a sort of nostalgia and that to will be gone some day. Thirty years ago my father-in-law would drive 100 km to Soul on his motorcycle and fill up the bags with new clothes. He would then sell the cloths in his store in the countryside for a small mark up. The city was bustling with business. Today it seems like a place to sit down and have a drink and meet with friends and talk about old times.
Seoul like most Asian cities faces an identity crises where modern meets the ancient and traditional. Times are changing and the ways that we do business and the ways that we purchase our materials each day is changing.
Namdaemoon also has department stores like this one built about 30 years ago. These department stores were built right next to the traditional markets to cater to more brand names and fashion shoppers. My son liked walking through the department stores and had fun with the displays, but in the end, both the department stores and the traditional markets are losing costumers.
It's just so much more convenient to order something from your cell phone and see it at your door step in a couple hours.
Is commercial space even going to be here in the future?
This post was written in response to the Weekend engagement topic 179. These topics seem to spark me to write something and I'm glad to see that. Thanks for the initiative and encouragement 
