Dongdaemun looks easy from the outside, but once you step inside, it unfolds into a whole market ecosystem.
I visit Dongdaemun Market fairly often.
Company merchandise, fabric shopping, market research, sewing supplies.
Sometimes the company I work for makes products, sometimes my sister who runs a clothing factory outside Seoul asks me to pick things up, and sometimes I go for Yuni’s own hobbies: diffuser supplies, DIY materials, and leftover fabric pieces.
To a foreign visitor coming to Dongdaemun for the first time, Dongdaemun may look like a large tourist area with DDP, shopping malls, night markets, and famous restaurants. But the real Dongdaemun is much more complex and alive than that. This is a livelihood market where people come every day to choose fabric, find buttons, buy accessory parts, pick out packaging materials, source shoes, and look at wholesale clothing.
So this Dongdaemun Market Guide is not simply about “where to shop in Dongdaemun.” This guide is here to help foreign travelers understand what is actually inside Dongdaemun, why Koreans come here, and which places are worth visiting depending on your purpose.
INDEX
Dongdaemun is connected around Cheonggyecheon Stream through places such as Dongdaemun Shopping Complex, Pyeonghwa Market, Donghwa Market, Gwangjang Market, Bangsan Market, Changsin-dong Toy & Stationery Market, DDP, Dundun Dongdaemun, and NYUNYU. Some are livelihood markets, while others are easier shopping spaces for travelers. In this Dongdaemun Market Guide, I want to unpack this complicated area in a simpler way.
Dongdaemun Is a Huge Market Ecosystem
To understand Dongdaemun properly, you first need to see it as a “market ecosystem.” Dongdaemun has places that sell fabric, places that sell the supplies needed to make clothes, places that sell finished clothing wholesale, places that sell accessory parts, places that sell packaging materials, places that sell shoes, and even places that sell children’s toys and stationery.
A Short History of Dongdaemun Market
Dongdaemun has a long market history. Gwangjang Market is known as one of Korea’s oldest permanent markets, opened in 1905, and it is still visited by many people for food, textiles, hanbok fabric, and vintage clothing. Pyeonghwa Market grew around clothing and livelihoods after the war, and it remains an essential place when explaining Dongdaemun’s wholesale fashion ecosystem. Dongdaemun Shopping Complex opened in 1970 and became a representative specialty market for fabric, garment supplies, accessory materials, wedding goods, and home textiles.
Bangsan Market handles packaging materials, printing, bakery packaging, candles, diffusers, and perfume ingredients. It is an important market not only for people who make products, but also for those who want to package them beautifully and finish them like gifts. That is why Dongdaemun is not simply a place to buy clothes. It is a place where you can see the whole market flow, from fabric to supplies, packaging, sales, and gifts.
Dongdaemun Market may feel a little complicated to foreigners, but that complexity is the real charm of Dongdaemun. The important thing in this Dongdaemun Market Guide is not to see every market. It is to choose according to your purpose as a traveler.
Dongdaemun is much more interesting inside than it looks from the outside as a tourist destination.
Modern Dongdaemun: DDP, Dundun Dongdaemun, and NYUNYU
If you are visiting Dongdaemun for the first time, DDP will probably be one of the first places that catches your eye. DDP is Dongdaemun‘s representative design landmark. Whenever I see the DDP building, I naturally end up turning on my phone camera. No matter how many times I see it, depending on the angle and time of day, it creates a view that feels like a work of art. DDP is a good place for travelers who like exhibitions, events, architecture, and night photography, and it also works well as a meeting point or starting point before exploring Dongdaemun Market.
But it would be a shame to think you have seen all of Dongdaemun just by seeing DDP. DDP is the modern face of Dongdaemun, while the real market stories begin in the surrounding alleys and shopping buildings.
Dundun Dongdaemun is an indoor shopping space that is easy for travelers to visit these days. For foreigners who are unfamiliar with traditional markets or wholesale markets, an organized shopping mall like Dundun can feel much easier. You can visit regardless of the weather, and since you can find shopping, cafes, lifestyle goods, and fashion stores in one place, it is a good stop to rest during a Dongdaemun market tour.
Shopping malls like Dundun include places such as Doota and Migliore, which are representative names in Dongdaemun.
After COVID, many commercial areas became quieter, and many closed stores can still be seen.
Even so, Dongdaemun continues to move busily from early morning through the afternoon.
There is one place I really want to recommend in this Dongdaemun Market Guide.
NYUNYU and Dongdaemun Shopping Complex 5th-floor accessories
@nyunyu.official
www.ddm-mall.com
Dongdaemun Shopping Complex 5th-floor accessories — This is a commercial area that sells parts and materials for making accessories. It is more focused on selling supplies than finished products, and you can see many different designs. Young people visit to buy the materials they want and make their own accessories, and people who run accessory businesses also come here.
The maze-like paths are fun, but I still get lost here. Haha.
If you are visiting with someone else, I recommend walking around together.
NYUNYU — NYUNYU is one of the most immediately enjoyable accessory shopping spots for foreigners in Dongdaemun these days.
It is already a place that many Japanese and Chinese visitors know if they are familiar with Dongdaemun. As it became popular on social media, many young Koreans also started visiting.
Yuni has visited this place more than three times too.
This is a place that sells finished products, and it is highly rated because the prices are very affordable while satisfaction is high.
It is an accessory shopping spot that students, travelers, and merchants can all enjoy.
They sell many different products, including hats, bags, clothing, and accessories.
How to get there:
Dongdaemun Shopping Complex.
NYUNYU.
Dongdaemun Shopping Complex
Dongdaemun Shopping Complex is close to the subway entrance, but the buildings are divided into different sections, and depending on your purpose, it is one of the central places in this Dongdaemun Market Guide. It is a huge specialty shopping complex with various items from the basement to the 5th floor. Since it takes a lot of time to look through every floor in detail, foreign travelers may find it better to focus on the floors that are more interesting.
Basement Level
A fun space for people who like quilting, knitting yarn, home décor, and hobby materials. Feel the atmosphere of a local Korean hobby market. Mainly sells materials, but finished products are also available.
Hobby & craft heaven →1st Floor
Buttons, garment supplies, ribbon tape, blankets, everyday fabric items, and home textiles. Where daily life and production connect.
Home textiles & notions →2nd – 4th Floor
Fabric and clothing production materials. Designers, factory workers, and merchants come here. Fabric is usually sold from one yard.
Fabric by the yard →5th Floor
Accessory parts and materials. Maze-like paths full of beads, findings, chains, charms, and jewelry-making supplies.
DIY accessory parts →
The biggest reason I recommend Dongdaemun Shopping Complex in this Dongdaemun Market Guide is its variety.
Fabric is usually sold from one yard. Prices vary depending on the fabric, but if I need a large amount for work, I buy fabric from Dongdaemun Shopping Complex. For individual projects, Yuni usually goes to Gwangjang Market to look for leftover fabric pieces.
Gwangjang Market Fabric Area: Korean Textiles Beyond the Food
Gwangjang Market is famous among foreigners for foods like bindaetteok, yukhoe, and mayak gimbap. But for people who like fabric, Gwangjang Market has another kind of fun. Here you can find wedding fabrics, hanbok fabrics, traditional Korean colors, and supplies all mixed together. But the thing I personally find most attractive is the leftover fabric.
I often come here when I do not need a large amount of fabric or when I want to do home décor.
From a traveler's point of view, a small piece of fabric can become a special souvenir from the trip. Korean patterns or colors can be used for small pouches, table decorations, gift wrapping, or other small items.
This place is affordable and offers many different kinds of fabric.
For leftover fabric, 2 to 3 yards seems to be common, and if you need more, they may look for it in the storage area and bring it for you. The price is usually around 10,000 won for 2 to 3 yards.
Since Gwangjang Market has fabric stores that make hanbok and stores that make and sell modernized hanbok, it is also a good place to buy Korean-style fabrics.
Repair Alley Tip
If you do not have a sewing machine at home, you can ask the older people working in the repair alleys to finish the edges for you.
The repair alley is around 88 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and some people operate without a fixed store.
Approximate cost by type of work: For simple finishing, the price is often calculated by meter or by item rather than by one fixed job price.
Overlock: The most basic finishing method to prevent the edge of the fabric from fraying. Usually priced from a few hundred won to around 1,000 won per meter.
Coverstitch: Mainly used for parts that need stretch, such as T-shirt hems or sleeves. Simple repairs are usually around 3,000 to 5,000 won per item.
You can buy Korean-style fabric you like, cut it to a suitable size, finish the edges, and make a beautiful scarf or handkerchief gift.
Donghwa Market: Where the Final Details of Clothing Are Found
Donghwa Market is an important supplies market for people who make clothes. If Dongdaemun Shopping Complex broadly shows fabric and various materials, Donghwa Market is closer to a place where you find the details that complete a garment, such as buttons, zippers, labels, heat-transfer prints, hotfix stones, embroidery, and decorative supplies.
The reason I introduce Donghwa Market to foreign travelers is that there is joy in simply looking around.
If you are interested in clothing or design, I think it is a place worth visiting at least once.
It is a place that helps create Korean fashion. Fashion design, clothing production, clothing reform, handmade work — it is a very interesting place. One button, one label, or one zipper can change the mood of a garment, so this is not just a shopping building. It is a market that creates the final expression of clothing. In particular, it is quite fun to look at printed items such as transfers, and it is also interesting to watch sequin work being done. The detail of those pieces can make you wonder, “How do they do this by hand?”
I visit Donghwa Market when I need label work or transfer printing.
You do not have to search around in different places because many things can be handled inside one building. Donghwa Market is one of the shopping buildings I personally like.
Pyeonghwa Market: Dongdaemun’s Livelihood Fashion Market
Pyeonghwa Market is less of a comfortable shopping space for travelers and more of a livelihood market that fills someone’s shop and creates someone’s daily sales. It is a space where clothing wholesale, retail, sourcing, and merchants’ movements are all connected.
For people who see Dongdaemun only as a tourist destination, Pyeonghwa Market may feel unfamiliar. Since many early-morning wholesale markets are concentrated around the Pyeonghwa Market area, many shops close in the morning. You can look at various designs and buy items at affordable prices, but the merchants are busy, and it may not be a structure where people slowly explain things the way they might in a tourist shopping mall. But that is exactly the real face of Pyeonghwa Market. This place is like the realistic face of Dongdaemun’s fashion market.
The reason I introduce Pyeonghwa Market in this Dongdaemun Market Guide is not simply to recommend shopping. It is because this place shows why Dongdaemun has been a central part of Korea’s fashion and small-business ecosystem.
It has also been one of the centers of Korea’s economy for a long time.
Changsin-dong Toy & Stationery Market: A Short Stop If You Are with Kids
Changsin-dong Toy & Stationery Market is a toy and stationery market near Dongdaemun Station. It is a little different from Dongdaemun’s fashion ecosystem, but it is a good place for families traveling with children or for people looking for small gifts.
You can browse toys, stickers, character stationery, party supplies, children’s gifts, and school supplies at relatively affordable prices. It is not the place to look for luxury souvenirs, but it is good for finding small and fun items with a local Korean stationery-shop feeling.
The reason I introduce Changsin-dong Toy & Stationery Market in this Dongdaemun Market Guide is that a Dongdaemun trip does not have to end only with fashion and fabric. If you are traveling with children or looking for gifts for nieces, nephews, friends, or small souvenirs, this can be a nice short course.
I recommend this place for people who are curious about what Korean toys are like, or for those looking for gifts for nieces, nephews, or children.
Bangsan Market: A DIY Gift Course with Packaging, Candles, and Perfume Materials
Bangsan Market is a packaging and craft-supply market located between Dongdaemun and Euljiro.
It is located across Cheonggyecheon Stream from Gwangjang Market.
Rather than being a market where ordinary tourists go to buy souvenirs, it is closer to a practical market visited by small brand owners, bakery owners, dessert sellers, workshop owners, and people preparing gift packaging.
But I have my own reason for visiting Bangsan Market.
It is to make diffusers and perfumes.
I buy base liquid, fragrance oils, sticks, and bottles, then hang them in the car or give them as gifts.
There are several shops on the 1st floor of Building A at 20 Dongho-ro 37-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, and most of the merchants are kind and helpful.
The base is around 12,000 won, and 100 ml of diffuser fragrance oil is around 20,000 won, depending on the grade of the fragrance.
It is a shopping building where stores selling products for making soap, perfume, and diffusers are mixed with stores selling related supplies. But if you enter through the entrance of Building A, you can immediately find candle shops.
I think Bangsan Market could also be a very fun course for travelers.
Packaging stores like Saero P&L are also good places to look around briefly. You can find gift boxes, shopping bags, stickers, ribbons, and decorative items that can make small gifts look even prettier. Since Bangsan Market also has stores selling candle, diffuser, and perfume materials, it is easy to connect packaging shopping with those supplies.
If you choose a scent, choose a container, and then choose packaging materials, it becomes more than simple shopping. It becomes a handmade gift course. That is exactly why I recommend Bangsan Market in this Dongdaemun Market Guide. This is a market for people who make products, but for travelers, it can also be a unique experience where they preserve the memory of Seoul through scent and packaging.
If you buy affordable items from places like Gwangjang Market, NYUNYU, or Dongdaemun Shopping Complex, or buy leftover fabric and finish the edges, then visit Saero P&L to wrap it beautifully, you can create a special gift that is inexpensive but meaningful and full of care.
What to Eat in Dongdaemun: Dakhanmari and Wooraeok
What should you eat in Dongdaemun today?
There are so many good restaurants in this area that you have to give something up.
To satisfy myself, I sometimes choose to eat there and then pack something to take home. That is how much conflict this place creates.
Some of my favorite places and foods are grilled fish, dakhanmari, Sunine Bindaetteok, mayak gimbap, the original nude gimbap shop, Wooraeok, 10-won bread, and yukhoe.
There are too many. But if I had to recommend only a few, I would choose dakhanmari and Wooraeok.
Jinwonjo Dakhanmari Main Branch & Myeongdong Dakhanmari
Jin Ok-hwa Halmae Wonjo Dakhanmari: 252-11 Jong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Myeongdong Dakhanmari: 265-8 Jongno 5-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul
At Myeongdong Dakhanmari, the staff cut the whole chicken directly at the table. This is one of the small details that makes the dish easy to enjoy, even for first-time visitors.
There are many restaurants in Dakhanmari Alley.
Among them, there are places where I wonder, “Why do people wait in line so long for this?” and there are also places that are just so-so.
Of course, everyone has different tastes, but I like to think I have a pretty good sense of flavor, and I usually go to these two places.
Myeongdong has delicious sauce, and Jin Ok-hwa Halmae has delicious broth.
When guests come from Japan, I usually take them to one of these two places.
Satisfaction level: 200%. That is why I recommend them.
A whole chicken is boiled and eaten with potatoes, rice cakes, and kalguksu noodles. After walking through the market, it is a hearty meal and a nourishing dish. Since these foods are already very famous in Korea, they continue to be loved by Koreans.
Wooraeok
62-29 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul
Wooraeok is located on the Bangsan Market side.
It was also recently visited by global business leaders.
It is a traditional Pyongyang naengmyeon restaurant, and popular menu items include kimchi-mari naengmyeon, bulgogi, yukhoe, yukgaejang, and sirloin.
Pyongyang naengmyeon is one of those foods that feels like a mission even in Korea.
Some people say it feels like eating noodles in plain water. At first, I also used to think, “Why would anyone eat this?” and when that menu was chosen, I would get annoyed. My older son was the same.
Pyongyang naengmyeon is a food you need to try more than three times before its real value begins to show.
Among those places, Wooraeok is where my older son tried it and said, “Now I understand why people eat Pyongyang naengmyeon!”
It has such a deep flavor that it makes you ask, “Then what were all the Pyongyang naengmyeon dishes I ate before?”
I do not necessarily want to tell overseas travelers to challenge themselves with Pyongyang naengmyeon. But if it is Wooraeok, I think trying it once may be worth it. Other dishes there are also delicious, so it is worth visiting.
Just remember that there may be a wait. It was also the first place where Yuni ever did an open-run. I recommend weekdays rather than weekends.
Recommended Routes for First-Time Visitors
Trying to see all of Dongdaemun at once can actually be exhausting.
The most important tip in this Dongdaemun Market Guide is to decide your purpose first.
If it is your first visit, I recommend starting at DDP, looking around Dundun Dongdaemun, shopping for accessories at NYUNYU, and then moving to Dongdaemun Shopping Complex. This route is not too specialized, but it lets you see both the modern face of Dongdaemun and the market atmosphere.
If you like fabric and DIY, I recommend connecting Dongdaemun Shopping Complex, Donghwa Market, the Gwangjang Market fabric area, and Bangsan Market. This course shows how Dongdaemun connects materials, products, and packaging.
If you are with children, it is good to connect Changsin-dong Toy & Stationery Market, NYUNYU, DDP, and Dundun Dongdaemun. It is more comfortable to focus on light and fun places rather than going too deep into wholesale markets.
If you want to see the real livelihood structure of the market, try walking slowly through Dongdaemun Shopping Complex, Donghwa Market, Cheonggyecheon, and the Pyeonghwa Market area. This route is a little complicated, but it shows best why Dongdaemun is not just a tourist destination.
Tips Before Visiting Dongdaemun
Each shopping building and market in Dongdaemun has different opening hours and closing days. In particular, many places may be closed on Sundays, so if you want to properly see fabric or garment-supply markets, it is better to visit before noon on a weekday. Dongdaemun Shopping Complex stays open into the afternoon.
In wholesale markets, it may be difficult to expect the kind of friendly explanations you get in tourist shopping malls.
Many places accept cards, but in small shops or wholesale-style stores, cash can be more convenient.
Dongdaemun is too large to walk around without a purpose. Even when using this Dongdaemun Market Guide, it is better not to try to see every place in one day. Choose one or two purposes for the day, such as accessories, fabric, children’s gifts, packaging materials, night streets, or food.
If you want to visit everything in one day, this route is probably the most suitable:
Closing: Dongdaemun Is Where Seoul’s Markets Come Alive
Dongdaemun is not just a neatly organized tourist destination. It is complicated, fast, sometimes overwhelming, and if it is your first visit, you may not know where to go. But that complexity is where Dongdaemun’s real charm lives.
Fabric becomes clothing, buttons become details, accessory materials become small gifts, and packaging becomes the face of a product. Someone prepares a shop here, someone buys workshop materials, someone chooses a child’s gift, and someone looks for a small souvenir from Seoul.
The Dongdaemun that this Dongdaemun Market Guide wants to show is not just a shopping attraction. Dongdaemun is a huge market ecosystem where Seoul’s fashion, fabric, garment supplies, packaging, gifts, food, night streets, and small businesses’ livelihoods move every single day.
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