"We hope this designation will serve as a catalyst that breathes new life into the alley commercial zone and drives its revitalization."
Seocho-gu District Chief Jeon Seong-su announced Wednesday that the commercial zone around Seorae Village had been designated the district's 9th alley-type shopping district.
The alley-type shopping district regime designates areas where 15 or more small-business stores are concentrated within 2,000 square meters, regardless of business type, allowing them to receive support on par with traditional markets. Once designated, businesses can register as Onnuri gift voucher merchants and receive promotional and marketing support, as well as apply for government grant programs. The Seorae Village commercial zone spans 23,144 square meters and encompasses 245 stores, so a large number of small business owners in the area are expected to benefit.
Designated as the 9th alley-type shopping district, Seorae Village is home to the Seoul French School, Parc du 15ème arrondissement de Paris, Montmartre Park and other cultural and recreational spaces, alongside European-style restaurants and bakeries. Long nicknamed "a little France in Seoul," it is widely recognized nationwide as one of Seocho-gu's most representative commercial zones.
Since March, the district has developed a brand identity for the Seorae Village commercial zone to strengthen its character, and has applied the brand identity design to electrical distribution boxes along Seoraero as part of broader streetscape improvements. The Seorae Village Merchants' Association, led largely by younger traders, also expressed its intention to actively pursue various grant programs to drive commercial revitalization, using the alley-type shopping district designation as a springboard.
Following this 9th designation, the district plans to designate the remaining three alley commercial zones as alley-type shopping districts before the end of this year, completing the full set of 12. Going forward, it will pursue an alley commercial zone organization support project targeting zones that have yet to form a merchants' association, as well as newly identified zones, to actively support further designations.
The district has consistently worked to expand alley-type shopping district designations in order to invigorate alley commercial zones. Since 2021, it has coordinated with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and last July it comprehensively revised the Seocho-gu ordinance on the promotion and management of traditional markets and shopping districts. The revision eased the store-density requirement for designation from 30 or more stores within 2,000 square meters to 15 or more, significantly lowering the threshold so that more alley commercial zones can qualify.
In addition, the district has partnered with the Seoul Credit Guarantee Foundation's Seocho Comprehensive Support Center to identify major commercial zones that meet the density requirement and where merchants show strong initiative, providing support throughout the entire process from forming a merchants' association to preparing a designation application. As a result, starting with the designation of the first alley-type shopping district on Maljukgeori in 2022, four more commercial zones — Bandeuregil, Jamwonhagil, Bangbaeyeok Itgil and Chem Street Gangnam Station — were added last year. This year, Bangbae Cafe Alley, Salon in Yangjae Stream and Seorae Village have been designated in succession, continuing the momentum.
"I hope the designation of Seorae Village as an alley-type shopping district will serve as a catalyst for commercial revitalization — improving the business environment for small business owners and breathing new energy into alley commercial zones across the district," Jeon said.
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