SEOUL, August 19 (AJP) - The Dongdaemun Stationery and Toy Wholesale Market, with around 100 shops, is the largest of its kind in South Korea. Stretching across a 200-meter intersection in every direction, the market is lined with stores offering every imaginable type of stationery and toy, inviting visitors to browse, touch, and choose at leisure.
Walking down the street feels like stepping into a time machine. Shop windows burst with color, filled with red fire trucks, yellow-haired dolls, and blue transforming robots neatly on display, evoking the atmosphere of a massive toy museum.
Inside, shelves stacked to the ceiling hold rows of dolls ranging from teddy bears and princesses to superhero figures. Some stores still display spinning tops and pencil-case toys from the early 2000s, now covered in a layer of dust, while just next door, transparent tubs overflow with rainbow-colored building blocks. Old learning booklets for practicing Hangul, coloring books, and maps of Korea, their pages faded with time, add to the sense of nostalgia.
Step inside a shop and the scent of plastic and cardboard greets you, unlocking childhood memories. Under the fluorescent lights, shiny figurines of the latest animation characters share space with walls full of crayons and colored pencils, while in the corners sit marbles and tops from the past. From Pororo and Power Rangers to Dragon Ball and Pokémon, toys beloved by different generations coexist side by side.
The market’s biggest draw remains its prices. Many items sell at roughly 30 percent below retail, a reason families continue to visit. Yet the hustle and bustle is mostly confined to weekends or special days like Children’s Day. "There are fewer kids now, and online shopping has taken over. It’s not like before," one shop owner admitted with regret.
Still, the market offers experiences that online shopping cannot. Parents and children can compare hundreds of toys at once, watch a child’s reaction firsthand, and receive recommendations from merchants who know every cartoon and character by heart. Their advice often feels more vivid and trustworthy than online reviews.
Changsin-dong’s toy street continues to hold its ground against the tide of change. Though the crowds have thinned, it remains a place to relive old memories and create new ones. Nestled among Dongdaemun’s gleaming shopping malls, this modest but enduring market reveals another side of Seoul.
Here, where time seems to pause, adults revisit their childhood while children dream of the future.
reporter
Han Jun-gu
jungu141298@ajupress.com
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