Korean Artist Memorializes Convenience Stores

Me Kyeoung Lee creates charming sketches of South Korea’s family-run convenience stores.

March 22, 2017

SEOUL – Are family-run convenience stores disappearing in South Korea? One artist thinks so, and she’s spent the last 20 years painting these charming corner stores, the BBC reports.

“Many of these shops are now closing down and it makes me sad. I have a lot of fond memories of visiting them with my mother and grandmother when I was younger,” artist Me Kyeoung Lee told the news source. “To me, they are warm and show a lot of love.”

In South Korea, these shops are often referred to as “marts” or “supers.” The small convenience stores stock toilet paper, ramen noodles, soju, milk and ice cream bars. Lee has immortalized these quaint stores in a series of acrylic ink sketches, adding intricate details to highlight the uniqueness of each building. The BBC news article shows many of her whimsical drawings.

“As South Korea has industrialized, these little mom-and-pop shops have gone by the wayside as neighborhoods have gentrified and rents have gone up,” said journalist and Wilson Center Global Fellow Jean Lee. “Now, we see 24-hour convenience stores like 7-Eleven on every corner in Seoul and throughout South Korea. They are bigger, brighter and cleaner but certainly lack the local charm and character of the old-school marts of the past.”

The vanishing mom-and-pop establishments still have fans among the local population. “These family-run businesses were a lifeline in the countryside and you would usually find a grandparent sitting on a crate in the corner. Definitely a focal point of every neighborhood and village,” Lee said.

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