대학신문방송국

Come to Yesan Market!

By Kim Hyun-ah Reporter, Junior of Business Administration

Until a few months ago, the Yesan Market in Chungcheongnam-do had closed more than half of its sites due to decreased visitors. However, the Yesan Market has recently emerged as a hot place nationwide. With the influx of tourists from all over the country, the stagnant traditional market has become full of vitality. What’s going on?

1. A hot place with retro vibes, Yesan Market

More than 100,000 people have visited the Yesan Market in about a month. The Yesan Market has become so popular that 5,000 people visit it daily, even weekdays. The secret is to keep the past appearance of the Yesan Market as it is but to provide food and atmosphere tailored to the current trend. Open space and low prices in Yesan Market, where visitors can freely buy food from each restaurant, also contribute to the popularity.

2. The reason why the dying Yesan had to change

Yesan was the hometown of Jongwon Paik, the representative of Theborn Korea, and was one of the representative areas where the local population was gradually decreasing. CEO Paik planned the project to solve this phenomenon in which the region is underdeveloped. Yesan Market aims to revitalize the local economy of the old city centered around the Yesan Market by conducting a “Yesan-type old city regional win-win project” undertaken jointly by Yesan County and Theborn Korea.

3. The beginning of traditional market change, the DSC Regional Innovation Platform

DSC Regional Innovation Platform University Education Innovation Regional Talent Education Center is promoting social values to solve regional issues for the win-win development of communities in Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungnam. DSC Regional Innovation Platform created a Ye-Curation based on cooperation with Theborn Korea, a famous restaurant company, to promote the Yesan region and support the start-up activities of founders in the Yesan Market.

4. A strong supporter of traditional market change, Ye-Curation

The DSC Regional Innovation Platform created a Ye-Curation consisting of college students to support changes in the Yesan Market. Ye-Curation is a compound word that combines Yesan and Curation, and the main activities consist of two things. The first is promotional and marketing support linked to founders in the restaurant sector in the Yesan area. The second is promotional content production activities to share issues in the Yesan area.

5. The homework that is still left, local extinction

Through the Ye-Curation activities of Theborn Korea and DSC Regional Innovation Platforms, the Yesan Market has been famous and transformed into a local attraction. The traditional market has been revived through cooperation between local governments and companies. However, it is not known whether this popularity will continue many years later. This is because the popularity of the younger generation, which is heavily influenced by SNS and the Internet, is rapidly fading.

Like Yesan Market, some traditional markets in other regions are also pursuing changes. Why don’t you visit local traditional markets to pay attention to the problem of local extinction? For the conventional markets to function as a cultural factor and tourism resource, they need our attention now.

Source: Theborn Korea