Everyday Shopping in Korea
Dear English Teacher,
You’ve arrived in South Korea. Congrats! However, you’re most likely sitting in an empty apartment wondering where you can buy your necessities like toilet paper, groceries, and medicine. Everyone always talks about where to buy clothes or skincare, but where can a person buy some mold remover?
Tada! Here’s a list of stores from me to you.
Daiso
A dollar(ish) store chain that originates from Japan, but has locations all over the world. So you might have seen the store before.
These are everywhere in urban areas of South Korea, and you can find a good portion of whatever your heart desires here. Like your local dollar store at home, you can find home goods ranging from stationary to small snacks. They also sell some seasonal goods, like Halloween decorations or camping gear.
If you’re living in more urban areas, Daiso will probably be a store you visit frequently, so make sure you know where your closest one is!
Top Recommendation: Cleaning Supplies (Bleach, Mold Remover, Wet Wipes) and Dehumidifiers
Olive Young
Think of this store as an alternative to the beauty brand retailer Ulta (Sephora is here, and also has a look-alike). In South Korea, it’s not uncommon to see brand stores for skincare brands, but if you want to shop a wider selection of goods, Olive Young is your go-to place.
Olive Young mainly focuses on selling beauty goods, like makeup and skincare, but they also carry some food and snacks. The store also tends to carry a wider variety of foreign brands you might recognize than you would expect to find in other stores like Emart or Lotte Mart.
Top Recommendation: Milka Chocolate Bars and the Heroine Make Mascara
Emart/Lotte Mart
These are your major retailer stores, comparable stores would be Target or Walmart in the US. Emarts and Lotte Marts are multi-floor stores that house products from groceries to clothes. Sometimes, they might even host a small Daiso or Toys-R-Us in a smaller section of one floor.
Both Emart and Lotte Mart will have a much wider selection than your local grocery store, and can sometimes sell items in larger quantities as well. Usually, these stores will also have self checkout machines!
An important note, major stores like Emart and Lotte Mart are closed every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month.
Pharmacies
I’ve mentioned this before, but medicine isn’t usually sold outside pharmacies in Korea. Luckily, pharmacies are everywhere. While you can find things like cough drops in convenience stores (they’re considered candy in Korea), you won’t find things like Tylenol.
Pharmacies will sell over the counter medicine, and if you happen to get sick, they’ll also supply the prescription medicine you might need.
Now, here’s a few tips and reminders for pharmacies.
Medicine is usually behind the counter, so you will probably have to ask the pharmacist for whatever you’re looking
OTC medicine is usually sold in smaller quantities of 10 tablets to a box.
A lot of medicine that is OTC in your home country, has a fair chance of being prescription only in Korea.
For my fellow females, birth control is considered an OTC medicine in Korea. You can take you latest prescription to the pharmacy, and the pharmacist can help you find a Korean brand with an equivalent dosage.
Bonus Stores
Online Shopping
Online shopping is a perfected art in South Korea.
Prior to receiving your ARC, and therefore setting up many admin accounts (bank, permanent phone, etc) I would suggest using Gmarket. They accept foreign credit cards and a non ARC-verified phone number, unlike most other online shopping sites in Korea.
The biggest retailer however, is Coupang, where you can order everything from frozen baguettes to a pack of socks. It’s the domestic Amazon—although you can still order from Amazon, just that shipping will take a few weeks versus a day.
Coupang does not have English language support, but most people make it work by installing a Google Translate extension into their browser of choice. Coupang also requires a Korean bank account and an ARC-verified phone number to be used.
If you’re looking for some foreign foods, I highly suggest iHerb. It’s a US-based online food/health retailer company that offers shipping to South Korea. It also has English language support and handles customs for you. It also accepts various forms of payments from all the countries it ships to.
Art and Stationary Supplies (Artbox and Morning Glory)
If you’re artsy or crafty, you also might be wondering where to get your supplies. My main suggestions would be Artbox and Morning Glory.
Artbox sells stationary, but also sells electronics, home goods, and decorations. If you’ve been in the ‘goods’ section of a bookstore that is the best comparison that I can think of.
Morning Glory, on the other hand, is much more dedicated to stationary and art supplies. You can find pens to paintbrushes to oil pastels.
However, if you’re in Seoul and are interested in more textile-based crafts, friends have also suggested checking out Dongdaemun.
Butter
Butter is, in one word, fun. It mainly focuses on decorative items, with some stationary or other products mixed in. But, if you want decorations for holidays like Halloween and Christmas, skip Daiso and head to Butter.
Even if you don’t buy anything, it’s a whirlwind experience just to walk through the store. If you’re familiar with Flying Tiger, Butter will be no stranger to you.
. . .
So, there were some stores that I have frequented while living in Korea. Just remember, when in doubt, visit Daiso,
Sincerely,
Kon
