Your Ultimate Guide to Dongdaemun Market in Seoul

Coming to Seoul, you want to eat street food, you want to buy souvenirs, you want to shop without having to worry about the price. Dongdaemun Market is an ideal destination that every expat must visit. Dongdaemun Market is Korea's largest retail and wholesale shopping district, attracting a large number of local residents and even tourists flocking to shop for a wide range of cheap items, Korean food as well as unique cultural events and fashion shows.

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General information about Dongdaemun Market

Address: Euljiro 6 Station, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Getting there: Line 2 (green line) to station Dongdaemun History & Culture Park (동대문역사문화공원역) exit 14.

Opening time: Depending on each stall, however, most of them operate from early morning to late at night. 

Zone 1 (retail): Open from 10:00 am to 5:00 am the next morning

Zone 2 (wholesale): Open from 8:00 pm to 5:00 pm the next day. There are stores open 24 hours a day

There are about 26 shopping malls, 30,000 specialized stores, and 50,000 manufacturers selling fabrics, clothes, shoes, jewelry, books, accessories, leather goods, sports equipment, toys, electronics, stationery, etc. Dongdaemun is popular since visitors can buy everything they need at a reasonable price at any time during the day. Also, the market's location in the downtown area of Seoul is convenient to travel. Dongdaemun market is considered the fashion capital of Seoul, a pioneer with the latest fashion trends that are loved by young people.

The main areas at Dongdaemun Market

The main route divides Dongdaemun market into two areas: one for retail customers and the other for wholesale buyers.

Zone 1

Zone 1 is home to a lot of retail stores. Tourists mainly concentrate here since there are money exchange service counters and information stations with English speaking staff.  You can enjoy K-pop music resounding everywhere and go shopping for the latest Korean fashion trend.

This area is located on the same side of the Doosan Tower (or Doota), there are many shopping centers in zone 1 for you to visit such as Doota Mall,  Migliore,  Hello APM, Lotte Fitin  

In addition to shopping, Doota Mall is equipped with a giant outdoor concert hall that hosts fashion shows, concerts, model competitions, and Korean classical music for tourists. 

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Zone 2

Zone 2 is the road located along the side of Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park and Dongdaemun Stadium. Unlike zone 1, zone 2  mainly comprises wholesale shops. Therefore, this area has the disadvantage of having no changing rooms. If you want to shop for retail items, then going to zone 1 will be the most reasonable.

Zone 2 also has several shopping centers such as Jeil Pyeonghwa, Designer's Club,

Gwanghee Fashion Mall, etc. 

What can you find in Dongdaemun Market?

Clothes and Fashionable items

Coming to Dongdaemun market, you will be able to shop for various fashion items from pants, shirts, fabrics, silk to shoes, and books at reasonable prices. The fashion items here are designed by talented young designers to be suitable for different age groups. 

Especially if you are interested in fabrics, you can visit Dongdaemun Fabric Market. This place is very congested; even local Koreans are overwhelmed by this market, so I will give you a short guide about this famous market. 

It is divided into A-dong (Thread, Fashion Materials), B-dong (Threads, Bedding), C-dong (Threads, Embroidery, Bedding, Curtains), D-dong (Machine) and N-dong ( Curtain, Embroidery, Bedding and food court). At D-dong, you can use the sewing machine to make curtains or cushions. 

About items on each floor:

1st floor: Clothing subsidiary materials

2nd floor: Lace fabrics or linings (fabrics for Hanbok in A-dong, Daimaru fabrics in B-dong) 

3rd floor: Different kinds of fabrics (D- dong is only up to here)

4th floor: Fabrics too

5th floor: Accessory Materials and Jewelry

6th floor: Fur fabrics in C-dong, food court in B-dong and N-dong

Cheonggyecheon Stream secondhand book street

For those who love books, this is an attractive place. The bookstores here are almost 30 years old, selling many different types of books: novels, magazines, poems, and especially there are extremely rare books; the price of books here is only equal to 30-40% of the normal price at the bookstores. On this street, you can also see many Korean students buying books. 

Lost in the Dongdaemun food court

Visitors can also enjoy a variety of Korean street food here, especially at Gwangjang Market, Mukja Golmok alley. Located between Dongdaemun Market and Jongno District, it is a famous food center with many famous dishes: kimbap, sundae, fish cakes, teokbokki, mandu, etc.

As the sun goes down, at Dongdaemun market, the entire area transforms into a vibrant nightlife spot where dance performances and fashion shows take place. 

Credit: calliefornia321

Tips to know when visiting Dongdaemun Market 

• Most of the stores will close in February and holidays so be sure to choose the right time if you want to visit this market

• You have to bargain, usually about 50-60% of the price offered by the sellers

• Dongdaemun Market is on a large scale so if you go exploring by yourself, remember to prepare a fully-charged phone with data and Naver Map to avoid getting lost

• Determine what you want to buy and choose the right zone (retail or wholesale)

• Also, remember to prepare cash if you’re going to visit the wholesale zone. 

• Choose clothes carefully when you come to the wholesale zone as there is no changing room.