Visitors look at secondhand goods in the evening at one of the stores in Seoul Flea Market located near, Sinseol-dong. / Korea Times Photos by Shim Hyun-chul



By Shim Hyun-chul
Staff Reporter

An old gramophone, LP records, film cameras and typewriters. An award and a badge that must have adorned someone's chest at one time, a flute and a harmonica. Once loved by their owners, they are now on display in a show window.

While Paris has its St. Toine flea market and England its Portobello market, Seoul has a flea market too. Seoul's flea market has its origins in the Hwanghak-dong flea market. The Hwanghak-dong flea market originated in the early 1950s when secondhand goods dealers put various items on sale. In 1973, when the Cheonggye Stream was covered to make for an elevated expressway, Hwanghak-dong grew into a center for secondhand goods. Then when the stream was reclaimed in 2003, the flea market moved to the now-demolished Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium. With plans to turn the Dongdaemun area into a park, the market once again moved to Sinseol-dong, not far from Cheonggye Stream. To celebrate the new site, the market gave itself the name Seoul Flea Market. The market has some 894 shops in its two-story site.



Jeong Heung-seong has been running a camera shop in Hwanghak-dong for 12 years. "In the past, I sold a lot of film cameras. But now, the customers come looking for digital cameras or camcorders," he said. ``A customer who had bought a film camera from me years ago, came back with the camera and extra cash, he exchanged it for a digital camera that I had. My job is to sell used cameras. I can sell him another one, a different camera should he come back. Isn't that the beauty of the flea market?" Jeong asked.



Seoul Flea Market is located about 100 meters away from Exit 9 of Sinseol Station on subway line no.2. The market opens every day of the year, from 10 a.m. through 9 p.m. For more information about the market, please call (02)3707-8001~3, or visit ¼*¿ïdz¹°½ÃÀå

shim@koreatimes.co.kr

Originally Posted by enjoi that place looks pretty awesome! i LOVE flea markets, garage sales, antiques... i've been to an outdoor market kinda like that, the nam dae moon market in seoul.