Fewer Bars, More Gacha Shops: How South Korea's Neighborhoods Are Changing

[Anchor]

It is time for Friendly Economy with reporter Han Jiyeon. Han, what do you have for us today, on August 14?

[Reporter]

I am going to talk about how the landscape of commercial districts and busy streets is changing.

Toy shops have increased by 20% over the past year.

On the other hand, pubs decreased by 9% over the same period.

If you walk around areas like Hongik University Station or other busy neighborhoods, you might have noticed that spaces once occupied by bars have been replaced by stores lined with character capsule toy vending machines.

These are a bit different from the crane games you find in arcades.

You insert a coin, turn a knob, and a capsule drops out without you knowing what is inside.

These capsule toy shops are very popular among young people.

As of the end of June, the number of toy shops, including these capsule toy stores, nationwide approached 4,000, which is an increase of 674, or 20%, compared to a year ago.

In just one month, 67 shops were added, which calculates to an average increase of more than two per day.

The number of people actually opening their wallets has also grown.

When NH Nonghyup Bank analyzed payment data from its customers, it found that spending related to toys by those in their 20s and 30s surged by 224% last year compared to the previous year.

Conversely, bars are rapidly declining.

Over the same period, pubs decreased by 9.1%, or about 2,000 locations.

Pocha-style casual bars also dropped by 9.2%.

This shift is especially noticeable in neighborhoods frequented by younger crowds.

Looking at Mapo-gu, where Hongdae is located, toy shops surged by 43% from 49 to 70 over the past year, while pubs dropped by 7% and casual bars by 12% during the same period.

[Anchor]

The number of young people who drink just because they like alcohol has really dropped a lot these days.

[Reporter]

The drop is particularly steep when it comes to binge drinking.

The high-risk drinking rate among men in their 20s has plummeted by more than 40% over the past 10 years.

According to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, back in 2016, nearly 2 out of every 10 men in their 20s fell into the high-risk drinking category, meaning they drank heavily and frequently in a single sitting.

Last year, that proportion dropped to about 1 out of 10.

In numbers, it fell 41.6% from 17.8% to 10.4%, marking the largest decline among all male age groups.

A general slowdown in consumption is also evident across the domestic alcoholic beverage market.

Although whiskey gained significant popularity among the MZ generation after COVID-19, that popularity has since cooled, leading to a 28.2% drop in whiskey import volume in December of this year compared to the same period last year, while wine imports fell by 2%.

Total imported liquor value last year also shrank by 13.5% compared to two years ago.

Amid this sluggishness in the liquor market, the financial performance of alcoholic beverage companies has also taken a hit, with Lotte Chilsung and HiteJinro seeing their operating profits fall by about 10% and 17%, respectively.

Experts believe that as youth employment becomes tougher and the burdens of dining out and housing costs pile up, a trend of "small luxuries" offering sure satisfaction for a small amount of money is spreading, replacing drinking gatherings that cost a large sum all at once.

[Anchor]

I heard the government is supporting a discount event for seafood?

[Reporter]

The government has added more budget to existing support, expanding it to 30 billion won.

Seafood such as flatfish, rockfish, and abalone will be discounted by up to 50%.

Sea temperatures have risen so high lately that farmed fish are dying in masses.

As of the 10th, high-water-temperature alerts were issued for 31 out of 35 marine regions nationwide, and the current atmosphere is serious enough that 1.83 million farmed fish have died.

That is why the government has actively stepped up to respond.

Species vulnerable to high water temperatures, such as flatfish, rockfish, and abalone, are being encouraged to be shipped a bit early even if they are not fully grown.

The ongoing "Korea Fisheries Grand Festival" period has also been extended by 4 weeks to run through the 23rd of this month.

Emergency releases are also being expanded in sea areas under high-water-temperature alerts to lower the density of fish farms.

The scale of releases this year is 23.8 million fish, more than double last year's level.

Support for affected fishery households is also being strengthened.

If the damages rank in the top 10% in severity, half of the estimated insurance payout will be paid out in advance within 30 days after the cause is confirmed.

This year's disaster relief budget has also been increased by 153% from last year to 33.2 billion won, with plans to disburse the first round of recovery funds before Chuseok.

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