99 Stores at Jamsil Saemaeul Market in Songpa-gu with 'Safe Design'

Songpa-gu Dresses 99 Stores in Jamsil Saemaeul Market with ‘Safe Design’

Songpa-gu Saemaeul Market Selected for ‘Small Business Safe Design Support Project’... Secures 285 Million KRW in City Funds

Improving Sales Counters to Match Customer Eye Level, Creating a Convenient Traditional Market for Shopping

Seo Gang-seok, Mayor of Songpa-gu: “Hope This Becomes an Opportunity to Revitalize Traditional Markets, the Heart of the Local Economy”

Songpa-gu (Mayor Seo Gang-seok)’s representative traditional market, Saemaeul Market, will have its store sales counters visually improved and made more convenient for shopping.

On the 30th, Songpa-gu announced that it will completely replace the old exterior sales counters of 99 small business stores within Saemaeul Market with designs reflecting the market’s characteristics by the end of the year.

The district was selected for the ‘2023 Seoul Small Business Safe Design Support Project’ and secured a project budget of 285 million KRW. The ‘Safe Design Support’ project aims to enhance the competitiveness of traditional markets by making sales counters easier to see, select from, and understand.

The existing traditional market sales counters were installed very low near the floor, causing inconvenience not only to customers but also to merchants. Additionally, as traditional markets are becoming popular spots due to visits from foreign tourists and the retro trend among the MZ generation, a new change aligned with current trends was necessary.

Through this improvement project, the district plans to transform Saemaeul Market into a ‘pleasant and convenient shopping market’ to gain customer trust.

First, sales counters reflecting the market’s characteristics and customized for individual stores will be produced. While maintaining overall market unity, ‘safe design’ will be applied considering user convenience and efficiency, and the sales counters will be raised to match consumers’ eye level. All sales counters will be replaced with appropriate forms that suit the products and store characteristics, such as showcases, stepped sales counters, and modular basket stands.

Moreover, the project targets the influx of foreign tourists and the MZ generation into traditional markets. To capture this new consumer base interested in traditional markets, distinctive design elements will be incorporated to improve the market environment. The locational advantage of being easily accessible to baseball spectators at Jamsil Sports Complex and foreign tourists in the Jamsil tourist district will also be actively utilized. In the future, with the development of Jamsil MICE, the market aims to transform into a traditional market attractive to multinational tourists.

Compliance with customer safety lines, a type of product display restriction line to ensure safe market passageways, will be thoroughly enforced through written pledges, training completion, and guidance.

Saemaeul Market experienced its second heyday in 2020 as the first market in the Gangnam 3 districts to install an arcade. Additionally, it has enhanced its status as Songpa-gu’s representative market through improvements such as paving market passageways, installing fire alarm facilities, and building a customer support center.

Seo Gang-seok, Mayor of Songpa-gu, stated, “I hope this safe design project will further strengthen Saemaeul Market’s competitiveness,” and added, “We will continue to actively respond to changing consumer environments and strive to revitalize traditional markets, the core of the local economy.”