Craft guide
ORBISBOOKSELLERS & STATIONERS IN SEOUL8 stores · curated ORBIS register
Hongdae, Mapo-gu, Seoul
ÅLAND's Hongdae shop presents fashion and lifestyle goods from emerging Korean designers within a multi-brand retail format. Clothing sits alongside smaller items such as stationery, giving shoppers more than one route into the range. Its Hongdae address is on Yanghwa-ro 16-gil, distinct from the company's other shops in Seoul and elsewhere.
Best for Emerging Korean fashion and lifestyle brands
Gangnam, Seoul
Starfield COEX Mall brings shopping and dining together in Seoul's Gangnam district near Samseong Station. Its directory includes fashion shops and beauty retailers, while the Starfield Library provides a space to browse books between shops. The aquarium and cinema are separately listed attractions within the complex, alongside the neighbouring convention facilities.
Best for Gangnam shopping and dining with a stop at Starfield Library
Starfield COEX Mall sits beneath Gangnam and works less like a shopping centre than a district with a roof over it. Around 320 brands fill it. The range runs from the big international fast-fashion names through street labels to a deep stretch of beauty. Walking it tells you what Seoul is wearing at the moment.
The centrepiece is not a shop. At the centre of the mall is an open library, free to enter, built as a place to rest and meet as much as to read. It programmes talks and performances by figures from literature and the arts rather than simply shelving books.
For a great many visitors that library is the reason to come at all, and it costs nothing to walk into.
Eating is treated as seriously as shopping. There are roughly a hundred restaurants and cafes, among them American-style Asian dining and two of the names that led Korean coffee culture. Beyond the retail the complex carries a cinema and an aquarium, along with exhibition space and a hotel. Three hundred brands without a plan will take a day you had not meant to spend.
Myeongdong, Jung-gu, Seoul
Korea's thousand-won shop, where the rule is that nothing goes over a dollar. Household goods, stationery, cosmetics and snacks in quantities that stop making sense. Myeongdong runs to four floors of it.
Best for Korea's 1,000-won shop (everything under $1)
Insadong, Jongno, Seoul
Museum shop attached to the fine art museum in Insadong. Ceramic pieces by local artists, art books, and traditional Korean craft items.
Best for Ceramic pieces by local artists, art books, and traditional Korean craft items
Sindang / Sangsu, Seoul
Mosaic Seoul is a vinyl record shop stocking LPs, 12-inch and 7-inch singles, CDs and tapes across genres including rock, jazz, soul/funk/disco, club, hip-hop, world, reggae, Korean and Japanese music, plus record sleeves, equipment, merchandise and books. It operates two locations in Seoul, in Sindang and Sangsu.
Best for Vinyl records across genres
Hongdae, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Korea's most popular stationery and lifestyle chain. Cute, clever Korean-designed goods at impulse-buy prices. Everything from novelty socks to desk organizers to phone cases.
Best for Korean stationery, desk goods and novelty accessories
Seongsu, Seoul
Independent bookstore and publisher in Seongsu — art books, poetry, design publications, and literary magazines. The quiet, contemplative space is a refuge from Seongsu's bustling streets.
Best for Independent bookstore and publisher in Seongsu — art books, poetry, design publications
Itaewon, Yongsan, Seoul
Itaewon's English-language bookstore. New and used books, author events, and a cozy reading atmosphere. The expat community's living room — a rare space for English readers in Seoul.
Best for New and used books, author events, and a cozy reading atmosphere
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