A Magical Place
Welcome to the infamous, Busanjin Market in Busan, South Korea. Where is it? Well, use Naver (the most common map app in Korea) or click here: https://naver.me/5351CH8T
What is here? Well, it is 4 floors of amazingness.
B1 is mostly bedding, small furniture, tourist gifts (much cheaper than the souviener shops), and some fabric.
F1 is mostly fabrics (silk, cotton, jersey, minky, apolostry, etc), curtains to order, hanbok (traditional Korean dress) to order, buttons, hair accessories, haberdasheries, and more.
F2 contains a lot of clothing, leather works, and more clothing, cheaply made for the most part.
F3 has more clothing, but also tons of charms for jewelry makers (including the earrings, silver, gold, and beads), and dresses for all occasions.
Check out my pictures below for a few ideas of what you will find!
How do you shop at such a place?
As you can see if the pictures, the building is filled with a ton of individual booths. I think the hardest part is finding who owns which booth. Some people run multiple booths that are not connected. But, the good thing is, they want your money. Yup. Pick up something you like, or start touching it and look around. Catch an owner near by and look confused. They will gladly point you in the right direction. Also, the chance of them speaking English is very slim, especially the booths in the middle further from the doors. Be patient, carry cash (several atms nearby), and use a translator app. I have found that having my calculator app open is very helpful. To get prices, they may also go grab their calculator. It should be worth noting that you can haggle a bit, but if that is too intimidating, just walk away and find what you want at another booth.
The booths further from the doors tend to be cheaper overall. And most will give a discount if you use cash, but many do accept cards (even American Express!).
Did you know that they use yards when measuring out fabric and supplies? Yup! Just say what you want in "yar-dah" and they will get it for you. But be sure to ask the price beforehand!
Can't find what you are looking for? Pull up a picture on your phone and show it to literally any booth owner and they will point you in the right direction. I couldn't find stuffing to put in pillows, so I brought an open pillow form with me with the stuffing sticking out. Then, I walked up to a fabric sales lady and pointed to it. She pointed behind her and said, "go there." I went a few rows over and repeated my action, only to be pointed a few booths over. Rinse and repeat until a man had what I was looking for: a one kilo bag of stuffing.
Another time I was looking for a very specific type of fabric, I showed my favorite booth man my picture of the fabric. He took my arm and walked me to the other side of the building and directly to a booth that had exactly what I was looking for!
How do you not get lost?
Well, honestly, I do get lost sometimes! But a trick I learned in places like this is to walk with the outside wall on your right, and go all around the inside of the building (kind of like how you get out of a maze, keep your right hand on the wall). If you see something further in you like, go to it, then back to the wall. If you are feeling super adventurous, just wander. And keep wandering until you find your way back to a wall. If you find a booth you absolutely love and it is run by lovely people, take a picture of the sign above it. Then, next time you can show the sign to someone and they can point you in the right direction. Most booths do not have store big names, but they do have little signs with their name (in Korean) and some numbers. There is a method to those numbers, if you figure it out, let me know!
Let me know if you make it there! It was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to find more places like it in the world.
Happy Quilting,
Sarah