Seodaemun-gu 'Sinchon Boxquare' Wins Grand Prize at Local Autonomy Management Competition

Shinchon Box Square Helps Street Vendors Near Ewha Settle as Small Business Owners...Youth Entrepreneurs Selected Through Public Contest Also Join, Creating Jobs...Some Stores See 12-Fold Sales Increase Compared to Pre-COVID After Vendor Capacity Building Training...Submitted as "Four Years of Shinchon Box Square" Story...Praised as a Creative Success Model for Urban Commercial Policy and Job Creation

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Seodaemun-gu (Mayor Moon Seok-jin) announced on the 17th that it won the Grand Prize (Prime Minister's Award) at the '17th Korea Local Autonomy Management Competition' hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and sponsored by six government ministries including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, with the theme "The Four-Year Story of Sinchon Box Square."

The Local Autonomy Management Competition is the most prestigious policy management contest aimed at discovering local governments that have achieved outstanding results through excellent policies. The awards ceremony was held on the afternoon of the 15th of this month at the aT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seoul.

Among 227 projects submitted nationwide from metropolitan and basic local governments this year, four metropolitan local governments and 30 basic local governments were honored with awards.

Among the autonomous districts of Seoul, Seodaemun-gu received the Grand Prize, and four other districts received Excellence Awards (Ministerial Awards), with a total of five districts winning awards.

Sinchon Box Square (22-5 Sinchon Station-ro) is a three-story complex structure created by Seodaemun-gu in 2018 using containers at a rest area in front of Sinchon Station on the Gyeongui-Jungang Line. It houses about 60 stores, including street vendors from the area in front of Ewha Womans University and young entrepreneurs.

Seodaemun-gu enabled street vendors in front of Ewha Womans University to move into new commercial facilities through dialogue and persuasion rather than forced maintenance, providing them with an opportunity to become stable self-employed business owners instead of illegal street vendors.

This is the first case nationwide where a container mall was created to successfully accommodate street vendors.

Additionally, on the 2nd and 3rd floors, capable young entrepreneurs were able to move in through a public contest, contributing to job creation.

The district has been conducting various merchant capacity-building education programs in cooperation with Ewha Womans University, eFood Lab, and the Korea Sharing Economy Promotion Agency, aiming for the sustainable growth of merchants in Sinchon Box Square.

As a result, some stores have achieved a success story by increasing their average monthly sales up to 12 times compared to before social distancing measures.

Since its opening, Sinchon Box Square has been benchmarked by central government ministries and local governments nationwide, and it received high praise in this year's Korea Local Autonomy Management Competition as a "successful model of urban street policy and job creation."

Mayor Moon Seok-jin of Seodaemun-gu said in his acceptance speech, "This achievement is the result of the citizens' interest in Sinchon Box Square, experts from various fields such as the food service industry, the merchants who moved in, and the district working together with their best efforts," adding, "We will continue to provide administrative support for the development of this place."