Hunting for treasure on the streets of Seoul
By Marianna Kim, CNN
Every weekend, hundreds of thousands of people of all ages set out on treasure hunts in the heart of Seoul. Locals and tourists alike, many are looking for bargains on clothes, watches, jewelry, license plates, surplus foods, decades-old packs of cigarettes and various “sold only on TV items” one sees on late-night commercials.
There’s a lot of ground to cover. This expansive, unofficial open-air flea market fills over three and a half miles of streets — about 30 blocks plus various side streets and alleys — in the South Korean capital almost every weekend, year-round, no matter the weather. But the busiest day for bargain hunters is Sunday, when the most sellers come out.
Goods spill out of shops onto sidewalks and traffic islands, where sellers dump piles of clothes, kitchenware, gadgets and even skincare and fragrances, new and used, for treasure hunters to rummage through.
Regulars have set up chat groups to share their discoveries with others, while fashion designers come to get inspiration from the patrons.
Authorities run vans through the area with loudspeaker announcements telling unauthorized sellers to clear the streets — they are supposed to have permits — but acknowledge the popularity of the Sunday treasure hunt is just too high for anything but momentary control.
The market’s roots lie in the Sinseol-dong neighborhood, home to the Seoul Folk Flea Market — a 54,422-square-foot space filled with 868 stores. A former school, it was transformed into a market by the city in 2008, when sellers were moved from another area of Seoul during a restoration project.
The Seoul Folk Flea Market soon began offering outdoor sales on Sundays. Seeing the crowds these events drew, sellers on neighboring streets opened up their own impromptu sidewalk shops, eventually spilling into adjoining neighborhoods to form the huge street market that visitors experience today.
Though this particular shopping destination is less than two decades old, Seoul’s street sale culture dates back to the 1960s. After the Korean War, many struggled to earn money and began selling their belongings to make ends meet. Some began setting up stalls to sell used goods, with vendors moving through different parts of the South Korean capital as areas redeveloped over the decades.
A market for everything
Changhoon Han runs a secondhand shop on the edges of the street market in Sinseol-dong.
On a recent Sunday morning, he’s placed some featured items on the street outside, careful not to let them spill onto the road itself and bring the attention of authorities.
There’s an eclectic mix of things on display: watches, artwork, sculptures, a taxi roof sign — and cigarettes?
Han says the decades-old cartons of smokes aren’t for lighting up but for collecting. It was quite the craze among older adults a few years ago, he says, when the packs from the mid-20th century would sell out almost as soon as they were displayed.
A sign hanging at Han’s shop explains a lot. “We buy everything,” it reads.
Once-avid collectors of all sorts have sold him their collections, he says. Interest fades, items are sold and new collectors and trends take their place.
“It’s a cycle,” Han says.
Just about 10 steps from the “everything shop” is a side street with a dead end, busy with shoppers going through boxes filled with random things including wires, clocks, nail polish, an electric kettle and some bottles of bee pollen. But mostly tools and supplies.
This place doesn’t have a name, but people know it by the spot, one shop worker says. The warmth of the seller is what keeps the customers visiting.
“He would say, ‘treat yourself with a cup of coffee with this dollar,’ while giving back a bill the customer used for paying a two-dollar product,” says the man.
Another visitor, Si Hwa Lee, has been coming to the flea market every Sunday after church for 10 years.
“I never get tired of coming here,” he says. “It’s addicting and exciting to see what unexpected things you could find every week.”
Lee has set up a group chat with some friends he made at the market, where they share the surprising items they bought and arrange meetups for meals.
He says some customers use the street sale as a way to earn extra pocket money, buying items then reselling them online. Search long enough and you’ll come across high-value items sold at heavily-discounted prices — like audio equipment worth $650 on sale for $20, he says.
And it’s possible to find stuff with quirky histories, like props from movie or video shoots brought by celebrities who didn’t know where else to get rid of them.
Decisions, decisions
While Seoul’s Sinseol-dong area seems to have a modicum of control over the street sales, travel west toward the Dongmyo area and things get more raucous and even overwhelming. This neighborhood, where two key subway lines intersect, is famous for its secondhand flea market. The overall vibe is chaotic and dusty, adding to the frenetic treasure-hunt energy that flows through the streets.
Just choosing which street to turn down here can be a challenge, with corners and intersections overflowing with piles of stuff to root through to find that nugget that will make a treasure hunt a success.
And hesitation could be your downfall.
One shopper on a recent visit spent 10 minutes looking over a luxury brand watch. “Real or fake?” the shopper asks the seller.
“Can’t say, don’t have any paperwork,” the seller says, but he notes his asking price is way, way below what this watch would cost at retail.
“I’ll come back later,” the prospective buyer says. And when they do, 20 minutes later, the watch seller is dropping the timepiece into a plastic bag, the new buyer wearing a sly smile on his face.
The sales pitch
Besides the crazy mix of goods available, sellers aren’t shy with their sales pitches.
One hawker says what he’s offering will bring pleasure in the bedroom. Another says he’s got the perfect item to keep your calf muscles toned.
Robert Kim sells small patches of leather — and he’s singing the Beatles’ hit “Love Me Do” to make shoppers stop and look.
Kim says he has been singing for six years at his shop, just because he likes to. The Covid-19 pandemic made him think, “I should do whatever I want, because you only live once.”
Pop songs from the 1970s make up most of his playlist, as he aims to sing music shoppers are familiar with, and most of them are in an older age range, he says.
The vintage trendsetter
While that may be true for leather crafters, the Dongmyo area of the street market attracts visitors of all ages, many for its vast selection of vintage clothing.
A 22-year-old university student who would only give the name Park says he came to Dongmyo for a camouflage pattern hunt, opting to visit the area because of its role in sparking the vintage trend that’s sweeping through Seoul, and because he was convinced by Instagram reels showing some of the treasures shoppers had found there.
For instance, the camouflage trend probably started with many older locals wearing military clothing around Dongmyo and Dongdaemun, Park says.
In fact, it was the older adults’ style that caught the eye of noted Bulgarian fashion designer Kiko Kostadinov in 2018. He posted Instagram stories and posts, calling it the “best street in the world.”
A few years later he launched 2024 collections with Prada and Asics, which some fashion watchers say were inspired by the styles he saw in the streets of Dongmyo.
While these streets may help set trends, they also go against them, in at least one respect. There’s so much to see — and so much to miss with inattention — that few people have their eyes on their phones as they walk through the area.
Unwritten rules of the hunt
As evening falls on a recent Sunday evening, two teenage boys spend minutes scooping through a mountain of watch dials and straps with their smartphone flashlight on, looking for a Louis Vuitton timepiece — a true piece of treasure.
Two young women in their early 20s are also crouched down, looking through the thousands of watches.
“These are for men, these are for women, I’m not explaining it again,” the owner loudly explains, as the women giggle.
Things can even be a bit dramatic at times.
Shoppers might fight over items, and sellers might clash with customers.
Tae-sung Ha has dealt with plenty of rude customers. When a customer chucks a single-use vape back onto the ground during CNN’s visit, he stops him. “Hey, you do not throw others’ belongings. Do not make me mad,” he says as the customer stomps away.
But good manners beget bargains. One woman even manages to haggle down the price on an egg frying pan, just by asking nicely.
Nearby, a tattooed bike rider stops to ask Ha the price of a huge axe, big enough to be used as a weapon in a Viking war.
Ha’s merchandise sums up the spirit of this Seoul Sunday phenomenon — a single-use vape, a frying pan and a six-foot-tall axe. It would be hard to conjure up a more random mix of wares that you might find at one single stall. But that’s what makes this Seoul Sunday phenomenon one of a kind.
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