Shopping in Korea: Dongdaemun Toy and Stationery Street kids' paradise

Princess Tiara (Photo by Hyemin Lee)

If you love toys or have some youngsters running around the house, check out Dongdaemun Toy and Stationery Street! It’s a wholesale market specializing in Korean toys and stationery items. Korean children love cute stationery, pens, pencil cases, and notebooks featuring adorable animal or animated character designs. Many parents take their kids here before the start of school, Christmas and on Children’s Day (May 5).

The entire district is filled with numerous shops selling a diverse range of stationery, toys, and even traditional Korean crafts. You’ll find a wide selection of toys, including beloved items from the 1990s as well as modern favorites. Exploring this area promises a unique experience whether you’re with kids or not. As Christmas approaches, visit Dongdaemun Toy and Stationery Street to hunt for fun and cute gifts.

Princess Tiara (Photo by Hyemin Lee)

Dongdaemun Toy And Stationery Street (Photo by Hyemin Lee)

Pokemon (Photo by Hyemin Lee)

MAKE A PACT WITH YOUR CHILDREN

If you plan to bring your children shopping, I recommend making a deal with them on how many toys they can get or how much money can be spent. Everywhere on this street, you will see excited children urging their parents to get more toys and dragging them from store to store. That will be you and your child. I guarantee it. So, make a pact with them before you hit the street.

MORE THAN STATIONERY!

In Korea, stationery shops not only sell basic stationery, but also accessories, kitchen appliances, home decorations, toys and much more.

Types of toys

There are tons of cute, fun toys, including figures of movie heroes and famous animation characters, Legos, Korean dolls, costumes, and so many more.

Souvenirs

Each shop has some Korean-style items that can be good souvenirs: traditional fans, soju glasses, key rings, pens, steel spoons and chopsticks sets, stationery and more.

POP QUIZ

When you’re shopping in Korea and using won, learning how to count Korean numbers for money can be very helpful. Here is a little quiz to test your knowledge! Korean language has two different number systems: Pure and Sino. For counting money, Sino numbers are used. Take a look at the brief lesson and go through the quiz. The answers are at the bottom, so try not to cheat!

Korean numbers (sino) review

1.

1-10,000

1: Il (일) 2: I (이) 3: Sam (삼) 4: Sa (사) 5: Oh (오)

6: Yuk (육) 7: Chil (칠) 8: Pal (팔) 9: Gu (구) 10: Sip (십)

100: Baek (백) 1,000: Cheon (천) 10,000: Man (만)

2.

Let’s practice how to count from 1 to 9,999

*You don’t have to say il (one) on numbers less than 100,000 (sip man)

• 1,000: Cheon

• 5,100: Oh cheon baek

• 32,500: Sam (3) man (10,000) I (2) cheon (1,000) oh (5) baek (100)

• 76,400: Chil (7) man (10,000) yuk (6) cheon (1,000) sa (4) baek (100)

• 99,999: Gu (9) man (10,000) gu (9) cheon (1,000) gu (9) baek (100) gu (9) sip (10) gu (9)

QUIZ TIME!

In the popular Seungjin Stationery Shop, which is loaded with cool toys, souvenirs and stationery, the price is not marked on the items. If you want to check the price, you’ll need to scan the barcode.

How much is it?: Eolmayeyo? (얼마예요?)

Take a look at the prices for the merchandise below. Write down how you say it in Korean or say it out loud, then take a look at the answers below to see if you got it right.

1. Tony Tony Chopper: 21,000 won