Second hand book stores are to be found anywhere in the world.
Korea’s not an exception. In the old days when less people could afford books, second hand stores were more popular.
less..
Second hand book stores are to be found anywhere in the world. Korea’s not an exception. In the old days when less people could afford books, second hand stores were more popular. But now, they are popular for another reason. Nowadays, people are drawn to the nostalgia and the variety they offer and the fun of discovering old books that are out of print at low prices. In the middle of Dongdaemun are these old and friendly second hand book stores. This kind of variety in products and culture is what deems Dongdaemun more attractive.
These book stores are aligned in one area of Dongdaemun, close to the Cheonggyecheon walk way. Taking this walk way, it takes about 1 hour from City Hall subway station. Please refer to ‘Cheonggyecheon -> Gwangjang Market, Dongdaemun Walk’ post.
Taking the Cheonggyecheon walk way, you come across this bridge called “Birdle”
Take the exit on left and cross the bridge.
This is a typical second hand bookstore. About 20 of these stores are aligned on one side and each specializes in a field like children’s books, design, imported books, magazines and so on. It’s not hard to find what books each store specializes in. You’ll notice books stacked in front of the store they specialize in.
This is one of the children’s book stores.
This store specializes in imported books, design and art books.
See one of the owners. Wish I could have a big enough house to fit so many books in. You can call him/her “juin-a-ju-see”(to generally refer to the male store owner who’s older) or “juin-a-ju-mu-nee”(female owner).
People in various age groups, career groups enjoy browsing through the books.
There are a lot of imported books here too. You may come across valuable and rare books that are long out of print.
The stacks in strings are series and sequels.
There are good old Sidney Sheldon, John Grisham. I’ve also found stacks of Agatha Christie’s. As a mystery lover, I was a kid in a candy store.
I’ve also found a hard cover National Geographic series book on Korea called “The Hermit Nation.” There were a lot from this hard cover, all-color series books.
National Geographic magazines.
Best selling novels by Bernard Werber, Dan Brown.
Jackpot! Found ‘Gateway to the Great Books’. It’s Britannica of literature.?
See more about this on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_to_the_Great_Books.
Besides, there are stores selling hats, sportswear, uniforms, scarves, gloves, belts and more.
Another “juin-a-ju-see” amid the books.
Books on art for sale at bargain prices.
This is a magazines store. You can find new issues as well as old issues. Busy Dongdaemun designers often buy new and old issues here.
It was a delightful surprise for us when we found these book stores in Dongdaemun because we had originally thought that Dongdaemun was all about clothes and fashion. Dongdaemun is amazingly big in size, diverse in items and cultures. Every block of it contains so much history and items. Dongdaemun reminds me of a saying?“Rome wasn’t built in a day”?or something like that.
This is what I found. I was so thrilled to come across this book as a big Star Wars fan and the kind “juin-a-ju-see” was willing to give me a discount
