From luxury queues to closing-time bargains: Korea's shopping shift
As evening settled over Seoul’s western Seogyo-dong neighborhood and closing time approached, customers streamed out of a bakery café carrying bags stuffed with bread. The bakery sells its unsold bread and pastries at half price at the end of each day to customers who reserve them in advance. Owner Lee Yoo-jin, 35, has offered the end-of-day discount for two years and says demand has recently…
As evening fell over Seoul's western Seogyo-dong neighborhood, customers flocked to a bakery café, hastily gathering bags filled with bread and pastries. Owner Lee Yoo-jin, 35, had instituted the half-price discount on unsold baked goods at day's end for the past two years; lately, demand for these deals has skyrocketed. "We prepare eight bags for reservations each day, but they've been selling out every time," Lee explained.
"Occasionally, we receive more reservations than we've prepared, so we must turn some customers away."
This late-night shopping frenzy is not an isolated phenomenon in Korea. The tradition of rushing to supermarkets and eateries just before closing time to snag end-of-day bargains is gaining traction as consumers look to capitalize on lower prices. This shift stands in stark contrast to the "open-run" rush that characterized Korean shopping habits during the COVID-19 pandemic, when eager shoppers lined up outside luxury boutiques before they even opened their doors to secure exclusive items.
The rise of end-of-day discounts represents a departure from this earlier trend and reflects a new emphasis on value-conscious consumerism in contemporary South Korea.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written; read the original for the full account.
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