Yangcheon-gu Partners with Local Artists to Renovate Signboards at 57 Alleyway Businesses

‘Yangcheon-style Artterior’, Matching 57 Stores in Sinwol 4-dong Food Alley with 18 Artists, Customized Support Including Environmental Improvement... 144 Million KRW Secured from City Budget with Additional 50 Million KRW from District Budget, Initial Target Expanded from 40 to 57 Locations

Yangcheon-gu (District Mayor Lee Gi-jae) announced the successful completion of the store-customized environment improvement project, the ‘Yangcheon-style Artterior Project,’ aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of alleyway commercial districts for 57 stores in the Sinwol 4-dong Food Alley shopping district.

The ‘Artterior Project’ is a program that connects small business owners’ stores with local artists to provide one-stop support ranging from interior and exterior design improvements to brand development and product packaging design. It offers artists opportunities for creative work and employment, while revitalizing alleyway commercial districts through ‘art marketing’ tailored to each store’s characteristics. Last year, the district focused support on 60 stores in Omokgyo Central Market.

This year’s project site, Sinwol 4-dong Food Alley (Sinwol-ro 15-gil), is located near a densely populated residential area with high foot traffic. In particular, the district expanded the number of beneficiary stores from the original 40 to 57 by additionally investing 50 million KRW of district funds on top of the 144 million KRW secured through a public contest project.

The district connected 18 local artists with small business stores and invested up to 1.5 million KRW per store for materials to carry out store-customized environment improvement work over approximately four months from August to November. This included replacing signs preferred by small business owners, producing signboards reflecting store characteristics, and interior design.

Through this, faded beauty salon signs were replaced with unique logos and clean-colored signs, and the old and dull exterior of an indoor pojangmacha (tent bar) was renovated with artwork highlighting the pub’s character and an intuitive store name.

District Mayor Lee Gi-jae said, “I hope this ‘Yangcheon-style Artterior’ project, which adds charm to alleyway commercial districts, will serve as a stepping stone for revitalizing the local economy. We will continue to actively discover and promote customized support projects to become a Yangcheon-gu that walks together with small business owners.”