Aspiring Young Entrepreneur’s Store No. 2 Opens in Myeong-dong

On May 9, the Aspiring Young Entrepreneur's Store No. 2 was opened in Myeong-dong, one of the busiest shopping districts in Seoul. Receiving support from Seoul Metropolitan Government and Small and Medium Business Administration (SMBA), the store sells a wide range of goods made by young people who have opened a small business with the support of the Seoul Youth Business Incubation Center. Opened in Sinchon in 2011, the No. 1 store has been visited by about 560,000 customers so far. Customers have purchased goods worth more than 800 million won in accumulated total.

The three hundred-plus kinds of goods (i.e., fashion items such as T-shirts, bags, hair accessories, idea goods, and environment-friendly goods) sold at the Aspiring Young Entrepreneur's Store No. 2 are those developed and produced by 60 businesses taking part in the Youth Startup 1000 Project, which has been promoted by Seoul City since 2009 to help those in their 20s or 30s start a small business.

The goods carry young people's earnestness and fresh sense. Some of the eye-catching items include snap-off electrical outlet devised by a young man in his 30s to help his old mother-in-law, who has a hard time pulling the plug from a multi-tap electrical outlet due to her arthritic fingers (manufacturer: Taeju Industry Inc.); handmade hair accessories without using adhesive bond by a woman who used to suffer from hair loss after childbirth (manufacturer: Venus Point), and; Kenyan-designed collage picture frames made of banana leaves and stems (manufacturer: KL Company). 

The Aspiring Young Entrepreneur also provides assistance to participating businesses in PR and marketing, holds periodic product evaluation sessions, and helps them with inventory management. Seoul Metropolitan Government expects these stores to help startups run by young people sell their goods more briskly and find opportunities to export by taking advantage of Myeong-dong as a favorite destination among foreign tourists.