[Report] "Reading Boom? Go to Big Bookstores"… Used Bookstore Streets Left Out of the 'Han River Syndrome'

On the Afternoon of the 17th at Cheonggyecheon Used Bookstore Street
Many Shops Closed, Only About 20 Remaining
Impact of Corporate Secondhand Bookstores and Online Bookstores

"Reading craze? We don't really know about that, everyone probably goes to big bookstores."

On the afternoon of the 17th, a merchant organizing old books in front of the used bookstore street at Cheonggyecheon, Jung-gu, Seoul, waved his hand when asked about the 'Han River effect.' While securing the tall stacks of books with a string, he said, "Who would come to an old bookstore like ours? Even when inquiries come in occasionally looking for Han River books, we can't sell them because we have no stock."

On the afternoon of the 17th, books are piled up in front of the used bookstore street in Cheonggyecheon, Jung-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Lee Seohee]

After author Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature, more than one million copies of a single author's books have been sold, bringing vitality to bookstores nationwide. However, the used bookstore street, which has long been established, feels like a story from another world despite the long-awaited 'reading craze.'

On this day, a lonely atmosphere lingered in the Cheonggyecheon used bookstore street. Along the approximately 250-meter stretch between Cheonggyecheon Jeontaeil Bridge and Ogan-su Bridge, signs such as '○○Seorim' and '□□Seojeok' lined up, but most places seemed to have turned off their lights as if they had already ceased operations. In front of the sparsely open shops, old books waiting for their owners were stacked densely, but no one was seen entering to buy books.

Mr. Hyun Mo, who has operated a bookstore here for 33 years, said, "After the author won the Nobel Prize, there were many inquiries looking for Han Kang's books for about two days," adding, "Now, it's back to the way it was before. Even when people come looking for Han Kang's books, they leave without browsing other books, so I don't really feel the atmosphere of a reading craze."

On the afternoon of the 17th, books are piled up in front of the used bookstore street in Cheonggyecheon, Jung-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Lee Seohee]

Another merchant operating a bookstore nearby said, "The day after the Nobel Prize announcement, all the stock in our store was sold out. Since then, customers who inquire are turned away because we have no stock," lamenting, "Large used bookstores buy Han Kang's books at two to three times the list price, and even those sell out, but who would put books out in such old used bookstores these days?"

Thus, the once bustling domestic representative used bookstore street, crowded with people trying to buy books at low prices, is on the path of decline. This is because the domestic book market, once led by neighborhood bookstores, has begun to be driven by large online and offline bookstores and corporate used bookstores. According to Seoul's public used bookstore Seoul Book Report, the Cheonggyecheon used bookstore street, which once operated more than 120 stores, has now decreased to about 20. Meanwhile, the number of corporate used bookstore branches such as Aladin, YES24, and Gaettongine has increased to around 100 as of this year.

Experts analyze that this is due to the weakened competitiveness of small used bookstores, which were frequented by some 'reading enthusiasts,' amid a declining reading population. Professor Yang Seung-hoon of the Department of Sociology at Gyeongnam University explained, "Even in the past, used bookstores were visited by enthusiasts who enjoyed reading as a treasure hunt, looking for old literature or classics one by one," adding, "However, recently, the population searching for such books itself has decreased, and since you can find the books you want at large used bookstores with abundant stock and well-established infrastructure without necessarily going to alleyway used bookstores, their competitiveness has diminished."