Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Corporal]

...otherwise known as supas...do they drive anybody else crazy?

Because:
the shopowner has his/her eye on you the entire time you're there, like you don't have 500 won and you're gonna pocket a Crunky bar and sneak out.

Because there's no room for maneuvering anywhere and if you turn around you knock half the stuff off the shelves. Then again maybe that's just me 'cause I'm eight months pregnant.

Because you can never find anything near the bottom cause they just throw all the bags on top of one another and you have to root through them and it takes forever.

Because other people who come in the store, stop shopping in order to watch what you're buying. I find this really aggravating. Hmm, let's see if the foreigner eats the same stuff we do.

I miss big convenience stores.

[The Lemon]

Yes, I second this. They're not for "shopping" - browsing or looking around. Give me a Sobey's/Stop & Shop/Loblaw's or other Western grocery store any day. And don't tell me "you're in Asia now, stop whining": I'm currently in Malaysia where wonderful supermarkets abound. Same thing with Singapore. I shudder at the thought of returning to Kwangju and the lady at the E-Mart dairy section who loves to tell me "opsoyo" when I ask where the damn cheese is.

On a somewhat related note, I also want to say how much I despise Korean department stores. Department stores here are way too overpriced - I guess they need to pay all those women who stand around doing absolutely nothing until you walk into their five-meter-square section and then attack like starved moggies. Of course they're not really "salespeople" - they're there to deter shoplifting.

Why *aren't* there any shopping malls here, anyway? Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have 'em. Korea needs 'em. These E-Mart discount department stores are a poor substitute. Note when I'm talking about malls, I'm talking about REAL malls, not those things attached to subway stations, or the KOEX center...

Malls would be a bigger threat to the department stores than they'd be to the little guys. For consumers, that'd be a good thing. Generally, Korea needs more retail competition, not less. So long as VCRs at Lotte cost double what they do in North America, even though they're made just up the road in Suwon, something's out of whack.

Korea seems to follow Japan's aversion to mall culture, opting for overpriced department stores. Too bad - both countries youth-driven consumer cultures are well suited to malls. The kids here are mall-rats waiting to happen!

[Dan]

the korean version of a mall seems to be migliore. just a bunch of extremely small shops thrown together.

and whats wrong with COEX? i use to go there all the time when i was in the area.

[Hyalucent]

I'm in the other boat, I guess. My old apartment in Changwon was in a house with a super in the front. The family there didn't speak a word of English but were super-friendly and the place was always open if I needed to run in for a lightbulb, batteries, drain cleaner... whatever.

... and I like to haggle-- which is something I haven't been able to do back home for years since the small stores got pushed out in favour of Walmart, Zellers, or in most cases, the Dollarama

Whenever I get a deal on something I don't feel so bad if it doesn't work and I feel twice as good if it does.

[The King of Kwangju]

I'm with you, hyalucent - give me a mom and pop store any day. They're convenient, close by, always open, and friendly. There's something charming about paying a guy who's watching tv in his living room.

"I shudder at the thought of returning to Kwangju and the lady at the E-Mart dairy section who loves to tell me "opsoyo" when I ask where the damn cheese is."

Well Lemon, Koreans just don't eat a lot of cheese, so there's not a huge demand for it. This is why it's not there.

I, too hate dept stores, but for different reasons - they're annoying. But your thoughts on the salespeople are just plain wrong: "Of course they're not really 'salespeople' - they're there to deter shoplifting." They are indeed salespeople. Koreans like to get what they need and get out, and these people are there to do it.

"Why *aren't* there any shopping malls here, anyway? ...note when I'm talking about malls, I'm talking about REAL malls, not those things attached to subway stations, or the KOEX center..."

Holy $hit, am I hearing correctly? Someone asking for a mall? How about those miles of small, privately-owned stores below Kumnamno? That's a mall. Unless you're talking about the Gap, Sears, Eatons, Pantorama, etc. If you want a mall, get back to the west and you'll be drowning in banality.

"Korea seems to follow Japan's aversion to mall culture."

Thank god. And let's hope they can keep it that way.

[thinker]

i too lived almost on top of one of those shops owned by my neighbour, he and his wife helped me out so much it's unbeleiveable! he always gave me free stuff (this is not how he helped me though~) and discounts and let me sit around and watch tv and get delivery to his store and such~try doing that at sobey's, they don't even want you eating there~whereas at a SU-PA you can get a beer sit down relax for 10 minutes no hassles, most of the little shops are like that, they also chat it up with you and let you practice you korean with them~not to mention the convience! i'm dying here in the land of -30 and snow, having to go out shovel the car off, warm it up and drive 5mins just to get milk for my coffee! compare that with the 2min walk to the ol' neighbourhood SU-PA~



SU-PA's Rule!

[marsha marsha marsha]

Man, the Supas are awesome! Yea they are overcrowded and unorganized but where else are they gonna give you free stuff and let you practice the few token phrases you have learned? Before I left Korea, the adjuma at my local supa gave me the 2 coolest Chilsung Cider glasses but now, thanks to my s.o., they are broken and I am soooo bummed. I think the owners are usually kind. Curious, but kind. They always spoke to me and went out of their way to be helpful (free kimchee, popping popcorn, etc...) Maybe the one in your neighborhood isn't the norm.

[spanky]

You guys missed the key bummer-standing at the register waiting for the guy to tell you how much. Like I know.

[Oaklandstroke]

The "syoopas" here are a bit on the badly supplied and organized side. Sometimes the proprietor is really nice and kind. But I've also had the opposite where the proprietor (and usually a woman, in my experience) is quite dislikable. As for the lack of variety, I am with those who would like places that are a bit bigger and have a greater range of items. However, the average Korean is a stranger to variety in many areas of her life, shopping included.

Moreover, I've been told that the government has restrained the development of larger shopping centers at the behest of small shop owners. Larger stores would almost certainly be able to benefit from economies of scale which would, in turn, result in lower prices. Were such places easily reachable, your average Korean would go there, not the local shops. So the larger supermarkets are out of the way or difficult to reach without a car from residential areas. The end result is a kind of hidden tax on the poorer consumers. Retailing in general remains heavily Balkanized. The shop owners are quite a powerful group here and no politician wants to alienate them.

[schwa]

I like them. I like the quirky clutter & friendly proprietors. I like the presumed honesty of the customer -- how many times have I gone into a little store & the cash drawer is wide open with no one around (maybe thats a smalltown thing) or only a little kid behind the counter who has to ask me how much something is. What alarms me is the sudden proliferation of Family Marts in my town -- 6 have sprung up in easy walking distance to my house in the last few months -- talk about boring sameness & fluorescent sterility. Death knell of the mom & pops, I fear -- global 7-11ization.

[Corporal]

I have never had anyone give me any free stuff (not that I expect it, mind, I don't want to sound bitter or anything...) And, I have NEVER found the owners, whether male or female, to be friendly or helpful. Usually they just stare at me with a blank face (not like that's so novel an experience for me) and occasionally reply to my polite greeting with the barest minimum of nods. Then, even when I demonstrate I can speak a little and ask how much and understand numbers in Korean, they pull out the damn calculator and hold it up to my face like I'm a bonehead, or say it really loudly and slowly like I'm deaf.

I don't find this charming, or worth the convenience of having this kind of store two minutes away from where I live. I'd RATHER scrape two feet of snow off my car and drive for fifteen minutes to go to a place that actually has what I want.

And I'm sorry, but for the person that thought Lemon was unreasonable to want real cheese, this place isn't the jungles of Africa, for crying out loud. They're supposed to be a FAIRLY modern society...and modern societies have mozzarella.

[here it is]

supas rock, family mart/lg 25/7-11 are like Toledo, Ohio. Yuk.

supas and hardware stores...gotta love 'em.

[Zyzyfer]

[Imbroglio]

[william beckerson]

cant say as I ever had a problem there.

Then again, I'm charming in many languages.