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Myeondong |
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Description
Located in the heart of Seoul, Myeongdong is a representative shopping
district in Korea. It also houses the headquarters of banks and
securities brokers, and many western and traditional restaurants.
Compared to Namdaemun and Dongdaemun Market which sell products at low
prices, most shops in Myeongdong deal with mid-level price items. The
main street in Myeongdong is lined with quality brand name shops,
while mid-class brand name shops and no name brand shops are located
in the side alleys. Moreover, large shopping malls like Avatar or
Migliore and department stores are present as well. All kinds of shops
and restaurants are densely located on the main street with lanes
which resemble the shape of a chess board, so it’s advisable to divide
Myeongdong into a few sections in your mind and explore each section
separately.
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Myeongdong Street (A)
Migliore, U-too Zone (Shopping Malls)/ Brand Name Shops (Levi’s, Bean
Pole, Geumgang Shoes Store, Elkanto Shoe Store, Esquire Shoe Store,
etc.)
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Side Alley (B)
mid-priced brand name shops (Ssamzie, Club Monaco, Guess) / No Name
Brand Stores/ Trend 20, Myeongdong Uiryu (Shopping Malls)
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Side Alley (C)
No Name Brand Shops/Brand Name Shops (Giordano, Jangbangee)/Restaurants/Coffee
Houses
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Central Street (D)
National Souvenir Center / Avatar (Shopping Mall)/banks/fast food
restaurants
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Chinese street (E)
Chinese Embassy/Chinese restaurants/stores for Chinese medicine,
books, etc.
Transportation and Map
- Seoul Subway Line 4 Myeongdong Station Exit 7.
  
  
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Noted Shops
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Myeongdong Migliore
Milgiore is a huge shopping mall selling trendy items of clothing,
shoes, and accessories. More than 1,000 shops are placed in the
building on 20 floors. A food court, game room, soccer cafe are
available as well. The basement of Migliore is directly connected to
Seoul Subway Line 4, Myeongdong Station.
Tel: : +82-2-2124-0001(Kor) /
www.migliore.co.kr
(Kor/Eng/Jap/Chn)
Hours: 10:30 am - 03:00 of the next day
Closing Day Mondays.
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Myeongdong Uiryu
Since its opening in 1975, Myeongdong Uiryu has offered reasonable
priced fashion items. Located in the center of Myeongdong, the
shopping mall sells clothing for men, women and children, underwear,
accessories, and cosmetics. Items of low price and good quality lure
many shoppers
Tel : +82-2-776-1979(Kor)
Hours : 10:30-21:30 (Sundays 10:00-21:30 )
Open year round
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U-TOO Zone
U-TOO Zone houses about 60 brand name shops including shops for
women’s outfits, shoes, bags and accessories. U-TOO Zone has plentiful
items for women in twenties in particular. A food court and skin care
shop are available on the 4th floor.
Tel : +82-2-771-6262(Kor)
Hours : 10:00-21:30
Open year round
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TREND 20
Brand name shops for casual wears and semi-formal suits are clustered
in the building of four floors offering items mainly for women in
their twenties through thirties. On the 4th floor are convenient
facilities.
Tel : +82-2-753-8211~4(Kor)
Hours : 11:00~21:30
Closing Day : Lunar New Year Day and Thanksgiving Day
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Avatar
Calling itself an entertainment shopping mall for youths, Avatar has
facilities like a movie theater (CGV Myeongdong 5), outdoor stage for
various events and international food court as well as high class
branch shops, sports shops and shops for character items, fancy
stationery and daily products.
Tel : +82-2-3783-5000(Kor)
Hours : 10:30-22:30
Closing Day : Tuesdays
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There’s
There’s deals with clothing, shoes, interior decorations and
accessories. Casual wear of unique designs are outstanding. Interior
decorations like clocks and trash cans are practical and unique. Shops
on the basement and the 1st floor sell casual wear and shoes, and on
the 2nd floor are interior goods.
Tel : +82-2-754-2911(Kor)
Hours : 11:00-21:00
Closing Day: Lunar New Year Day and Thanksgiving Day
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Supermarket
Supermarket has uniquely designed clothing, bags, belts, shoes and
hats and is especially popular among Japanese tourists. Five branches
with different atmospheres and items respectively are spread through
Myeongdong. Among them, Circle Supermarket (the 5th branch) has a
coffee house in it where Supermarket fans can take a rest after
shopping
Tel : +82-2-775-1515 (Kor)
Hours : 10:30-22:00
Open year round
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Yisaekui (Unique
clothing)
Yisaekui is famed for its unique interior and clothing mainly selling
knitwear, skirts, pants and accessories. Most customers are foreign
tourists
Tel : +82-2-774-4849 (Kor)
Hours : 10:30-22:00
Open year round
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HI (Joy)
HI retails items of uniquely designed clothing, shoes, bags and
accessories. Glittering shoes and bags, fusion style clothing and
accessories would make good gift items
Tel : +82-2-756-3387(Kor)
Hours : 10:30-22:00
Open year round
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TODA COSA
TODA COSA is a cosmetic shop selling accessories as well as every kind
of cosmetics. Customers can try samples of every item on display
including perfume and nail polish
Tel : +82-2-774-9557(Kor)
Hours : 10:30-21:30
Closing Day: Lunar New Year Day and Thanksgiving Day
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MniMall
MiniMall offers cosmetics and accessories. General cosmetics are on
the 1st floor, aroma products on the 2nd floor, and nail care products
are available on the 3rd floor. Foreign customers with a passport can
get 5% discount. (subject to change)
Tel : +82-2-779-5233(Kor)
Hours : 10:30-22:00 (National Holidays 10:30-21:30)
Open year round
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National Souvenir Shop
The National Souvenir Shop a spacious souvenir shop offering
traditional Korean items like ceramics, embroidery, handicrafts,
lacquer ware and accessories. Connecting wholesalers and customers,
National Souvenir Shop offers better price than duty-free shops.
Customers also can get 10% tax refund on the items purchased here when
leaving the country.
Tel : +82-2-778-6529(Kor)
Hours : 10:30-21:00
Open year round
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Chinese Street
For over 20 years, the street near the Chinese Embassy has become home
to shops for tealeaves, books, spices and daily products that are
directly imported from China. Visitors can get the feel of an exotic
atmosphere in downtown Seoul.
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Food
All kinds of
restaurants from traditional ones to western ones are placed in
Myeongdong. Restaurants recommended are Myongdong Gyoja, Myeongdong
Donkkas, Teumsae Rameon, and Yeongyang Center. Chungmu Gimbap,
Vietnamese Noodles (Pho) and Andong Jjimdak are also popular. Coffee
shops like Starbucks and Seattle’s Best and many fast food restaurants
such as Burger King are located on the central street. On the street
from Myeongdong to Jongno are family restaurants like T.G.I Fridays,
Outback Steakhouse and Bennigans
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Myeongdong Gyoja
With its 30 year history, Myeongdong Gyoja proudly presents its
specialty, Kalguksu. Kalguksu is made of chicken soup from boiled
chicken bones for 6 hours and soft noodles. The restaurant boasts its
old history and tradition and attracts many foreign tourists.
Tel : +82-2-776-5348 (Kor)
Hours 10:30-21:30
Open year round
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Teumsae Rameon
Teumsae Rameon is not a fancy restaurant, rather it is so shabby and
tiny that you would never guess the restaurant would draw regular
customers for 20 years with its specialty, Bbalgaetteok. It has other
branches in Sinchon and Itaewon.
Tel : +82-2-756-5477(Kor)
Hours : 10:00-21:30 (Sudays 11:00-21:00)
Open year round
Location: Walk down the street between Popeyes Restaurant and Chungmu
Gimbap which is near the back gate of U-TOO Zone Shopping Mall. Make a
left turn at the first corner
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Myeongdong Donkkas
(pork cutlet)
Myeongdong Donkkas is a Japanese style restaurant specializing in pork
cutlet. Stout pork cutlet is served with bean-paste soup. Japanese
style rameon is also available.
Tel : +82-2-776-5300(Kor)
Hours : 11:00-21:30
Open year round
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Yeongyang Center
For over 30 years, Yeongyang Center has been serving the best
Samgyetang (chicken soup) and broiled chicken. Samgyetang is popular
during the summer and broiled chicken for the winter.
Tel : +82-2-776-2015(Kor)
Hours : 11:30-22:00
Open year round
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Seafood Soup Street
If you walk down the alley between Esquire Shoe Store and Spris from
the main street, seafood soup restaurants are clustered in this narrow
lane. Among them, Myeongdong Eomeonijip (Mother’s House) boasts a 40
year history and savory seafood soup.
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Tourist Information
Center
Myeongdong Tourist Information Centers are located at the intersection
of the main street and Myeongdong Street, next to Woori Bank, and the
other is found next to Avatar Shopping Mall. Not to mention the staff
are fluent in a number of foreign languages, and provides brochures,
maps and coupons.
Tourist Information Center ("TIC")
Tel : Myeongdong Street TIC +82-2-774-3238(Kor/Eng/Jap/Chn)
Main Street TIC +82-2-774-3447 57-0088(Kor/Eng/Jap/Chn)
Hours : Nov. ~ Feb. 10:00-18:00/Mar. ~ Oct. 10:00-19:00
Open year round |
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Shopping tips
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Myeongodng Festival is
held around May or June. Parade, Folk games, Fashion show, and special
discounts are offered during the festival period
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Myeongdong is near to
Namdaemun Market and Insadong which makes it easy to shop around these
places in one day.
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Use the Tourist
Information Centers for maps and coupons.
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Myeongdong is normally
crowded on weekends. If possible, visit Myeongdong during the weekdays
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Built in 1898, Myeongdong
Cathedral Church is also worth visiting. This beautiful Gothic style
church provides benches under a huge tree in its yard enabling tired
tourist to take a rest for a short while.
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Myeondong
Insights
Interview of
a Chinese Couple - Chen Defa (M), Lin Fengyi (F)
“I like that Myeongdong has many big shopping malls which have every
kind of items. It makes my shopping so easy. We are here for vacation
and this is the first time for us to visit Korea. We stopped by
Myeongdong mainly for shopping. You know, Myeongdong is the
representative shopping district in Korea. My husband bought outfits
at Polo and Bean Pole, and I got trendy and exotic clothing at
Migliore and no name brand shops. All kinds of food from traditional
ones to western ones are abundant as well. Among the foods that we
have tried, Samgyetang and Shabu Shabu were most impressive. The
things I regret is that it wasn’t so easy to communicate in either
English or Chinese, and most shops open at 11 a.m., which makes the
morning shopping hard. |
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 Information
provided by Korea National Tourism Organization. |
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