As Christmas approached, the famous bakery Seongsimdang in Daejeon once again saw an 'open run' this year without fail.
On the 25th, posts certifying the purchase of Seongsimdang cakes were steadily uploaded on online communities and local cafes. Among them, a buyer residing in Daejeon said, "I arrived before 6 a.m. today, but there were already more than 100 people lined up ahead." Since the opening time of Seongsimdang Cake Boutique is 8 a.m., people waited in line for at least 2 to 3 hours in subzero temperatures to buy Christmas cakes. Another buyer said, "I lined up from 4 a.m. on the day before Christmas Eve, the 23rd."
Around 7 a.m. on the 25th, people lined up at a nearby underground shopping center to purchase Seongsimdang Christmas cakes on-site. Online community
The reason for this 'open run' is the Strawberry Siru. The Strawberry Siru cake, layered with strawberries, weighs 2.3 kg and costs 49,000 won. It contains an entire box of strawberries. Strawberry Siru, Seongsimdang's representative popular item, cannot be reserved during the Christmas period and is sold on a first-come, first-served basis on-site. In particular, the 2.3 kg Strawberry Siru cake is sold only at the Seongsimdang Cake Boutique main store, and only one per person can be purchased.
Christmas cakes at famous hotels usually cost around 100,000 won, and the expensive ones go up to 300,000 won, so Seongsimdang cakes boast a relatively affordable price. Perhaps because of this, this year a rare sight occurred where the long line started not in front of the Seongsimdang building but from the underground shopping mall. There were also reports that customers had to wait in line twice because the purchase location and pickup location were different.
One netizen posted a photo of the waiting line filling the underground shopping mall around 7:40 a.m. on the 25th, writing, "Don't come. The line is not just for the bakery; it circles around the underground shopping mall, and I can't even see where the end of the line is. I was flustered as soon as I saw the line." Netizens who saw the post commented, "I thought it was the Lotte World line," "Even living in Daejeon, I can't eat Seongsimdang," and "I should have left at 3 a.m."
Seongsimdang, which started as a small steamed bun shop in front of Daejeon Station in 1956, is a bakery operated by the local company Rosso in Daejeon. Seongsimdang, which follows the principle of 'same-day production, same-day sales,' is also famous for its good deeds of sharing leftover bread with underprivileged neighbors. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Seongsimdang's sales last year amounted to 124.3 billion won, making it the only domestic bakery, not a large franchise, to exceed 100 billion won. In the same year, Seongsimdang's operating profit was 31.5 billion won, far surpassing Paris Croissant, which operates Paris Baguette (19.9 billion won), and CJ Foodville, which operates Tous Les Jours (21.4 billion won).
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