In the past, locations created commercial districts and hot places emerged, but now the players are at the center.
Shin Ji-hye, executive director at STS Development Co.,Ltd., in a lecture titled The formula for creating a store people line up for at the ChosunBiz Consumer and Retail Forum held at The Westin Josun Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 16th, picked players as the key word for recent consumer trends and changes in commercial districts.
Shin said, In the past, locations with convenient transportation, such as Myeongdong or Sinchon in Seoul, determined commercial districts. Now, who has moved into the neighborhood and what brands and content are there has become more important, adding, It is not the space itself but the players who fill the space that make a hot place today.
As a representative case, Shin cited Seongsu-dong, which has gone beyond a hot place to be called a new Seongsu Business District (SBD). In Seongsu-dong, stylish cafes and cultural spaces such as Daelim Warehouse and Onion began to appear in 2015, drawing young people, and then similar brands opened in succession, forming a commercial district.
Shin summarized the process of becoming a hot place in four stages: a space with an element of surprise that differentiates it from existing commercial districts appears; latecomers who follow it form a cluster; next, word of mouth spreads through social media (SNS), gaining public recognition; and finally, large corporations and capital flow in, expanding the commercial district.
However, Shin emphasized that it is difficult to build a commercial district with famous brands alone. The three essential conditions for a hot place were presented as ▲ transportation accessibility ▲ a crowd-drawing facility or heritage ▲ a base population (residents or office workers). To lead to an increase in real estate value, additional conditions such as terrain mostly on flat ground and versatility are also needed.
In the case of Seongsu-dong, Shin explained that it has accessibility with Seongsu Station, Seoul Forest Station, and Ttukseom Station, and it has a distinctive heritage based on a factory zone. As young office workers moved in centered on the Knowledge Industry Complex, sufficient underlying demand was supported. As most of the area is quasi-industrial, large-scale development was possible, and the land parcels were large enough to accommodate corporate headquarters or large mixed-use facilities.
As commercial districts drawing attention recently, Shin introduced Sindang-dong, Eunhaengnamu-gil in Yongsan, Mallijae-ro near Seoul Station, Gaehang-ro in Incheon, the Gwangju High-tech District, and Dongmyo. In Sindang-dong, distinctive spaces such as Jusin-dang have emerged, and the area is gaining attention as a hot place for younger generations beyond its long-standing commercial district centered on a tteokbokki alley.
Shin said, Today's hot places are not created by chance; they are born from the combination of players' planning, investment, and content, adding, If stylish spaces start popping up one by one where there used to be nothing as you walk down the street, there is a high chance that place will become a future hot place.
In the panel discussion that followed the lecture, on-the-ground players from Yeonhui-dong, Dongmyo, and the Gwangju High-tech District shared their experiences with commercial district growth. Kim Jong-seok, CEO of Koom Partners, Park Sang-hyun, CEO of John & Mart, and Oh Jung-hyun, vice president of Synergy Tower, cited the area's unique identity and content as the core competitiveness of a hot place.
Kim Jong-seok said, Yeonhui-dong had many cultural artists and retained the warmth of a neighborhood where people live. Park Sang-hyun, CEO who runs John & Mark, a place in Dongmyo that sells makgeolli and jeon, said, No one knew Dongmyo would become what it is now, adding, As younger generations discovered the value of spaces imbued with vintage and memories, the commercial district grew.
Oh Jung-hyun, vice president of Synergy Tower, said, Developing a commercial district is ultimately about creating reasons to draw people, adding, We planned the space by thinking about which cafes and beauty brands should move in to attract specific consumer groups. Oh added, Even a lagging area can grow into a new commercial district if it has the right content and brands, and The Gwangju High-tech District model can be sufficiently applied to other areas.