Is this a real animal or what? For a second, I thought it was. And even if I knew that it wasn't really one, it still freaked me out that I cannot bear to touch it. When I asked my hubby about it, he told me that it used to be quite popular when he was younger. It only made me think how much the norms had changed as this kind of thing would almost be taboo in this generation because of animal rights.
I like thrift shopping. Not only that it is thrifty, it's also earth friendly (environmentalist inner-self here) and fun! My grandma used to frequent such places when she goes to the market when I was a kid. I never go with her though but I know that those clothes that she brings home along with the fishes she got from the market were from the thrift stores in the area.
Fast forward by decades and I had found myself going to these places as well. It's just fun to dig through the stuff and find unbelievably priced pieces that we can't find being sold in the regular stores as new. More often, buying used item at a good price is better than a new one that has questionable quality with almost a crazy price to boot.
So now that I am the main "marketer" in my household, I am always in search of thrift shops. I only know of one small place in my current locality. A friend brought me there once and we check on it every now and then. I had to find another store at the nearby Cheonan City.
I've searched for months online for these places and asked friends before heading there. My first try was a failure since I just went without any map at all and just simple oral directions like, once you get off the bus or station, walk a bit and go down. You'll easily find it. I mean go down where? Not a landmark was mentioned saved for the station. As much as we speak the same language, those kind of directions got me nowhere.
My second attempt was with my hubby's help who searched online in Korean sites for such. He managed to point me to the right street where I found shops. It turned out to be the street mentioned in the Hulk (boxing/health club) owner's blog. Hah!
So this is the street where I ended up exploring for the day. How I got there? In a roundabout way since I still "dropped" by around the Shinsegae area. But anyway, Cheonan Station Exit 1 is a good place to start. The station is on a sort of T intersection. Once you step out of the station area and turn right, that will be heading toward Daiso way. If you walked and reached spotted Daiso, you are on the wrong side. The same thing with the opposite way of that. Better cross the street towards GS25. But no, there are not pedestrians on that area. Haha..the nearest I've seen is the one near Daiso. (I like that store, huh?) :D
Or if you can spot the entrance to the underground, that's better coz there is the underground market that I have included in the map/link below. Let's say, you stayed on the ground (not gone under ^^) walk two or three blocks from GS25 heading to IBK bank. One would spot the World Food, Gimbap Nara (written in Korean), the Sijang Entrance and a MINI STOP at the other side of the street where you are walking. I remember turning right into a seemingly deserted street before I reached the underground entrance no. 7 (map below). And this is what I saw on an early weekday afternoon of November.
There were mostly clothes but this one of the last stores on the street surprised me when I took a peek of what was behind the plastic curtains. It looked like a mini second-hand department store. :D Clothes for kids, linens, books, toys, baby carriers, etc. It was such a delight to see them for the first time. Now I know where most of the apartment "dump" goes.
Here is the Naver map of my next photo target. Google map wasn't much help in this case. They really have limited info when it comes to Korea. Naver and Daum, unsurprisingly, provides a better map.
Cheonan Station Underground Market
Can't wait for my next adventure in Cheonan soon!
posted from Bloggeroid
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