1 Million People Flocked to See Used Shoes... The 'Craze' for Secondhand Sneakers

Bungaejangter Offline Store 'Beugeujeuteu Lab'
Surpasses 1 Million Cumulative Visitors

Bungaejangter Beugeujeuteu Lab Branch 1

The store is filled with about 300 pairs of used sneakers. While they could be considered old sneakers, the treatment here is different. Most of the sneakers are either out of stock domestically or limited editions that are hard to obtain. Some expensive ones cost up to tens of millions of won. This place is the first branch of ‘BGZT Lab,’ a used sneaker store located in The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, opened offline by the secondhand trading platform Bungaejangter in 2021. BGZT Lab is also a place where the popularity of sneakers among the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) can be observed. As of February this year, the cumulative number of visitors has exceeded one million.

On the 7th, Bungaejangter announced that the combined cumulative visitor count for BGZT Lab’s first store and the second store in COEX Mall reached 1.11 million as of the end of last month. The BGZT Lab The Hyundai Seoul store, opened in February 2021, attracted 660,000 visitors, and the COEX Mall store, which opened eight months later, had 450,000 visitors.

For BGZT Lab’s first store, the maximum number of daily visitors approaches about 4,000. Among them, 90% are from the MZ generation. Bungaejangter explained that the most popular product is the 'Nike Dunk Low Black.' The retail price was around $100, but since Nike sold it in limited quantities, the resale price exceeded three times that amount, gaining huge popularity.

What draws attention is the sneaker that was traded at the highest price. At BGZT Lab’s first store, the most expensive sneaker traded was the 'Nike X Tom Sachs Mars Yard Shoe 1.0 Space Camp,' the first collaboration work between Nike and contemporary artist Tom Sachs. It was priced at 19.95 million won. But that’s not all. Rare sneakers like the 'Nike Dunk SB Low Staple NYC Pigeon' have been valued at around 70 million won. This shoe was a collaboration between Nike and New York designer Jeff Staple in 2005, with only 150 pairs made. Bungaejangter formed a purchasing team to prepare products to showcase such collectible sneakers.

Nike X Tom Sachs Mars Yard Shoe 1.0 Space Camp

The reason Bungaejangter is putting effort into used sneaker trading by even establishing offline stores is that transactions in this category are rapidly increasing. Last year, the transaction amount in Bungaejangter’s fashion category grew about 30% year-on-year to 970 billion won. Among these, sneakers were the most traded item. To facilitate limited edition sneaker trading, they also introduced 'Bungae Care.' A specialized team within Bungaejangter’s authentic product inspection center certifies authenticity and inspects products; if a purchased product is found to be counterfeit, they compensate 300% of the purchase price.

Choi Jae-hwa, CEO of Bungaejangter, said, "BGZT Lab has established itself as a playground for the MZ generation’s taste consumption, where they can try on limited edition sneakers, touch them, and experience related culture," adding, "We will continue to expand our touchpoints with customers through diverse marketing that showcases Bungaejangter’s unique characteristics."