[Report] 'K-Beauty' Hotspots Unknown to Koreans?…Dongdaemun Rising Instead of Myeongdong

Shindang-dong Fashion Street Cosmetics Stores
Japanese Tourists Visit Until Late Evening
Popular for Affordable Prices via SNS Word of Mouth
"Why Are There No Koreans?" Some Wonder

"These days, Dongdaemun is more popular than Myeongdong. They say you have to visit here first when you go to Korea."

On the afternoon of the 16th, Mirai Shiraishi (23), a Japanese tourist met at the fashion street in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, shook a shopping bag full of cosmetics and said this. Shiraishi, who came to Korea for a 2-night 3-day trip, said she rushed here as soon as she arrived at Incheon Airport. The smartphone screen she showed had a captured YouTube video titled "24-Hour Shopping Paradise Dongdaemun."

That day, the fashion street in Sindang-dong, located between Dongdaemun Station and Sindang Station, was bustling with foreign tourists holding shopping bags even after 9 p.m. When a van stopped by the roadside, Chinese and Japanese tourists poured out. Those looking around at the surroundings all headed to the cosmetics stores at once. About 10 minutes later, they left the stores carrying shopping bags filled with cosmetics and honey butter-flavored almond snacks in both hands.

At 9 p.m. on the 16th, foreign tourists are shopping at a cosmetics store on the fashion street in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Seom Seong-a]

Recently, with the opening of low-priced cosmetics stores on Sindang-dong fashion street, the Dongdaemun area has emerged as a cosmetics shopping hotspot comparable to Myeongdong among foreign tourists. These stores started gaining word-of-mouth on SNS for selling cosmetics cheaper than drugstores.

The popularity of Dongdaemun is clearly reflected in Google search trends as well. From 2022 to the past two years, "Dongdaemun" ranked 4th among the most searched Korean tourist destinations on Japanese Google. The number of times Japanese people searched for Dongdaemun on websites increased by 1100% compared to two years ago.

On TikTok, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter), many videos and posts recommend visiting store A, famous for selling the cheapest goods in this area when visiting Korea. On TikTok, about 50 short-form contents about store A were uploaded within six months from mid-last year. These contents received over 4,000 'hearts,' indicating post recommendations.

Videos about cosmetic stores in Sindang-dong Fashion Street are uploaded on TikTok and YouTube.
[Photo by YouTube, TikTok screen capture]

On the day of the visit, store A was selling products cheaper than those found in drugstores and various brands' cosmetics that were hard to find elsewhere. Ampoules from brand R and eyeshadows from brand D, sold for 49,900 won and 19,200 won at Olive Young and official brand websites, were available here for 28,900 won and 14,000 won respectively. Not only cosmetics but also coffee mixes and snacks popular among Japanese were displayed on the shelves, giving the appearance of a low-priced drugstore.

Several such low-priced stores clustered closely together, forming a small shopping town within Sindang-dong fashion street. Near the stores, there were small currency exchange booths, where Chinese and Japanese tourists frequently exchanged money and headed back to the stores, a scene that stood out.

On the 16th, tourists are exchanging currency at a currency exchange booth in the fashion street of Sindang-dong.
[Photo by Lee Ji-eun]

Tatsuo Takahashi (51), a Japanese tourist from Nagoya met at the store, said, "The charm of this store is above all the low prices," adding, "I saw on YouTube that after booking a hotel near Dongdaemun, visiting low-priced cosmetics stores is recommended, so I followed the same course. It's a trending tourist route these days."

Some tourists were curious why Korean customers do not visit the store despite prices being cheaper than regular drugstores. During the two hours spent around the store that day, hardly any Korean customers were seen. On Japanese Google, related search terms such as "Why there are no Koreans at Dongdaemun cosmetics stores" appeared when searching for Dongdaemun and store names in Japanese.

On the 16th, a Japanese tourist met at Sindang-dong Fashion Street is holding up a tourist map showing popular tourist destinations.
[Photo by Lee Ji-eun]

Minegishi (46), a tourist from Chiba Prefecture who came to Korea with a friend, expressed curiosity, saying, "This street is really famous in Japan, but I don't know why there isn't a single Korean here," adding, "The prices are reasonable and there are many products, so shopping is fun, but there are no Korean customers at all."

A store official on Sindang-dong fashion street said, "Because the store buys products wholesale in large quantities, we can sell cosmetics at low prices," and added, "We have been operating only for foreigners and did not sell cosmetics to Koreans, so the store may not be well known to domestic customers."