Pop-up Shops in Korea

If you are into k-pop or manhwas you might know about the frequent pop-up shops in Korea. If you don't, a pop-up shop is a temporary shop/store that appears only for a short time, and often features exclusive products or special events, such as stamp events. The popup stores make for a unique shopping experience in Korea. In this post I will discuss three pop-up stores I went to during my stay abroad in Korea.

Seventeen 

The first pop-up store I visited after arriving in Korea was a Seventeen-themed shop in early October, just a few days before their concert. At the pop-up store, we got the opportunity to take photobooth pictures, write notes for the Seventeen members, take pictures of the area, and more. After doing a couple "missions" and showing proof, we were given some free Seventeen merch. Before we could go into the store, we had to sign up and get a waiting number, which seems pretty common for bigger or more popular pop-up shops. 

Arcane

The popular video game League of Legends has gotten its own Netflix show and at the time of writing this, the final season (2) has just about finished. Due to the popularity of this show, and to spark more excitement, a big pop-up store in Gangnam was opened. At this pop-up, the main objective was to complete stamp missions by participating in mini-games such as shooting targets, completing a game of memory, or playing a reaction game. At this store, sign up before entry was also required.

Ateez

The final pop-up store I went to was k-pop group Ateez' Golden Hour pt. 2 pop-up in Hongdae. This shop was perhaps the smallest I went to, but was by no means disappointing. Also here did I get a mission card where if you complete all missions, you get a prize. Unlike the Arcane shop, however, the missions on the mission card were based on buying merch, sharing pictures, etc., rather than playing mini games. For this shop as well, sign up before entry was needed.