Convenience stores and hotels around the Han River appear to have enjoyed what is being called a "fireworks festival boom," thanks to a crowd of about 1 million that flocked to the "2025 Seoul World Fireworks Festival" held the previous day in the Yeouido Hangang Park area.
On the 28th, GS Retail, which operates GS25 convenience stores, said that at 10 GS25 locations considered within the influence zone of the Yeouido and Ichon-dong fireworks crowds, daily sales the previous day surged by up to 850% compared with Saturday of the previous week (Sept. 20). The peak sales time was 5 p.m. At some stores, sales during one hour of peak time exceeded weekday daily (24-hour) sales from the previous week.
By item, among foods, ready-to-eat meals such as Go Pizza and dakgangjeong jumped 119 times compared with the previous Saturday. During the same period, roasted sweet potatoes rose 75 times, ice cream eight times, and gimbap and noodles four times each.
Alcohol sales in particular also increased sharply. During the same period, beer rose 22 times and highballs 13 times, respectively. Snack-for-drinks items also climbed tenfold. Among non-food items, picnic mat sales jumped as much as 75 times. In addition, portable batteries increased 38 times, and wet wipes and toilet paper tenfold.
BGF Retail, the operator of CU convenience stores, also saw sales at stores near Yeouido, Yongsan, and Banpo rise compared with the previous Saturday. Looking at food sales, desserts increased 59 times, snacks 55 times, gimbap 41 times, and ramyeon 38 times, respectively. Among goods, hot packs rose 106 times, picnic mats 49 times, and portable batteries 88 times.
Seven-Eleven, a Lotte affiliate convenience store chain, also enjoyed the "fireworks festival boom." Among foods, ramyeon sales rose 40 times. Sales of ready-to-eat items such as roasted sweet potatoes and chicken increased 30 times. In addition, green tea sales rose about 20 times, and beer increased 15%.
Emart24 said that sales at six stores in areas such as Yeouido and Ichon-dong the previous day increased by up to 8.6 times compared with the previous Saturday. Looking at sales growth rates for key items versus the previous Saturday, single-use portable batteries and picnic mats rose 65 times and 52 times, respectively.
Among foods, ice cream rose 15 times, beer 14 times, and bottled water and cup ramyeon 13 times each, while sales of ready-to-eat meals such as samgak gimbap, sandwiches, and burgers increased fivefold.
Hotels around the Han River, including Yeouido and Mapo, also enjoyed a "fireworks festival boom," with room bookings pouring in more than on a typical weekend. As traffic congestion occurs every year during the fireworks festival, lodging demand surged, leaving most hotels fully booked. At a luxury hotel in Yeouido known as a "prime fireworks viewing spot," mid-10 million won suite rooms were also sold.
In particular, as competition intensified for rooms with fireworks views, posts offering to resell reserved rooms appeared on secondhand marketplaces such as Karrot and Bungaejangter. Because hotel room prices rise as the stay date approaches and as available rooms dwindle, the seller pockets the difference.
A distribution industry official said, "As many people visit the Yeouido fireworks festival every year, convenience stores focused on creating a stable environment by sufficiently securing inventory of high-demand products and deploying additional staff," adding, "I understand that once the fireworks festival schedule is set, hotel room bookings are almost fully taken within about one to two weeks."