m8888888's Blog

Seoul has lots of shopping options, from expensive to cheap-o. Young people in Seoul seem very concerned with appearances and fashion, so of course there are lots of hip clothes and accessories. All the Korean women in their 20s that I know, and most that I saw on the streets in Seoul, were almost always (what I considered to be) dressed up- high heels (all the time!) and skirts, when I was wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and tshirts. & I'm a girl, so I don't really know where boys shop. Although all of the big stores have male floors, too, of course… I just don't know if they're any good!

Anyhow! Expensive shopping: Lotte department stores (Myong Dong, Nowon, Miasamgeori, Jamsil, Kangnam, and a few other places!), Shinsegi (Myong Dong, and I'm sure other places that I don't know about!), and really, almost every department store (Hyundai and… that's all I can think of, actually!). I don't know of any cheap ones! There are also more, smaller expensive stores in Myong Dong and Kangnam and Apgujeong. They have all the usual Prada- and Chanel-type stores, and Korean (? I think it's Korean!) brands like Beanpole. Department Stores usually have sales for two weeks in January, April, July, and October.

Cheap shopping: Yay! Way better! One of my favorite stores is cheap-to-medium priced, but still has some cute, unusual stuff. It's Doota in Dongdaemun. Doota not only has a cute name (Doota! Doooooo. TA!), it has like 11 floors of clothing and accessory goodness. I suspect they might have some clothes by young designers, and that's why they're cheaper… but I don't know. There are some other stores right around there (I think one is called … APM? Something with an A & a P, anyhow), but they have all the same old stuff, not original stuff like Doota seems to have. There are also cheap markets around Dongdaemun. Ewha Women's University also has really cheap clothes. They have stores where everything is 5,000 won! I'm thinking they aren't the best quality for that price, but they have some cute stuff. & it's a great place to pick up Konglish clothes- stuff with the most random English sentences on them! 

Sunshin Women's University area and Hyewah also have some of these cheaper stores, but not as many. They're fun areas to walk around in anyhow, though! 

The only problem with the cheap places is that you often can't try clothes on. The workers said it's because the clothes are "One size fits all," and that you can exchange them if you find out they don't fit after you buy them (although what's the point if everything in the store is the same size?!). And be aware that a Korean "one size fits all" fits small Korean women, but not so much anyone larger!! Department stores do sometimes carry larger sizes, though.