Supermarket Shopping In Seoul: Lotte Mart/ E-Mart/ Home Plus/ PIERROT

Supermarket is a place to get Authentic snacks in good quality and also great prices.

I am not really a fan of stores that put out their snacks under the sun at some of the tourist places. Or places with no fixed prices, you have to know the market price in order not to get scam.

Most supermarket do allow tax refund with minimum purchases of 30000 won, not including perishable.  However, they are a handful that does not do tax refund. For example, the homeplus at world cup stadium.

Do take note the supermarkets are closed on some Sundays.

Bring your own recyclable bags or buy one from the supermarket. Get the recyclable ones as Some of them have bags with nice designs and are really durable. I like the Emart ones.  

All the supermarket provide boxes, scissors and tapes for you to pack your items if you do not have a bag and do not want to buy one. You can pack a box of items for check in too if your airline allow more than one piece of check in and you do not have enough luggage space. 

This is the standard packing station

Most of the supermarket provide boxes. You can buy a recycable bag and reuse it. The price is around 1000 - 3000 won. I find it really worth it as it is good quality and cute. It can be reuse multiple times and use to carry heavy items. The last 2 bags with bear is from Daiso. Daiso Korea has a different range of items from Daiso Japan and Singapore. It is worth a visit

1. Lotte Mart

The most popular Supermarket in Seoul will be Lotte Mart at Seoul Station Exit 1.

There is a lots of human traffic, if you don't know what to buy for your friends and families. You can just follow the crowd. There is a lot of samples to test so you will know what to buy back. Easily accessible as it is just at Seoul station. There is a mini Daiso inside. They sell fresh food, fruits, Snacks, beauty products including Face shop  and also some household items.

There are too many people that you may have difficulties moving around.The selection of items may not be as extensive as the other other marts I will be talking about.

Please take note that the Lotte Mart at Myeongdong is different from the one at Seoul STation. It is a smaller and more classy version. The selection of items are much much lesser.

2. E MART

The E mart is located at Yongsan subway station Line 1. 

It is located at the basement of the I'PARK mall. 

It is also near the famous Dragon Hill Spa.

The supermarket has 2 levels.

They have the greatest range of items including fresh food, fresh food, snacks, beauty products, some beauty products like Innis free, toys, clothes and stationery.

This is not really crowded as is mainly locals.

Home Plus

We visit the one at Hapjeong Station

This bigger that Lotte Supermarket but smaller than E Mart

They sell fresh food, snacks, stationery, electronics, household products and also clothes.

There is a good selection of products other than snacks, you can find Pokemon, BT21, Line and Kakao items. To me, they seems cheaper than the official store and have a different selection. 

It is very spacious and quiet. Very relaxing to shop here.

 4. Pierrot Shopping

It is know as the Don Don Donki of Korea. There is great selection of snacks, not just from Korea but Asia. They have some snacks that looks like some famous Japanese snacks. And you cant find them in the other supermarkets.  They also sell a lot of miscellaneous items like Electronics, stationery and clothes. If you are in Korea for a long time and miss Asia food. They do sell Indo Mie and Hao di Lao. They do not sell fresh food but have a lot of snacks
Take exit 6 and walk all the way down (do not need to cross the road) for like 5-10 mins. It will on your left.

Personally, I prefer Home plus and emart. There are less traffic so you can shop peacefully. They have a great selection of stationery, clothes and other products.

KOrea Seoul free and easy : Dongdaemun and accomodation city days inn

Stayed at city days inn for the last visit.

This hotel is just beside the train station dongdaemun exit 5. After you exit from the station, you can see city days inn.

We had a bad encounter with the taxi driver. As the hotel is relatively unknown. We took a taxi down as it was peak hours and we did not want to try to squeeze ourselves into the train.

We came from Busan by KTS so we are cabbing from Seoul station. we expect the taxi fare to be quite reasonable. However, the stupid taxi driver decide he do not where the hotel is, he just drop at some unknown hotel at some quiet and dark lane where there are only a handful of people who are surprised to see tourist dragging their luggage around.

We have to ask for directions to the train station and look for the hotel ourselves. We spent around 30 minutes looking for the hotel. He did dropped us at somewhere quite a distance from our hotel ( need around 15-20mins walk)

We choose this hotel firstly because it is not easy to find triple sharing hotel (Skypark is another hotel with triple sharing) and I wanted to shop at dongdaemun,

The hotel room is not big but is ample for us because we are seldom back home.

Bed is comfortable.

It is clean, new and bright. (brightness is important, as dark rooms seems eerie.

The staff do know English but is not very fluent.

You have to walk around 5-10 mins to Doota and the other shopping malls.

There are no lifts so we had to carry our luggages and shopping up the stairs.

There is always so much talk about dongdaemun being the wholesale market for clothes.

I did have a lot of expectations.

Why I still prefer Ewha women's university and Hongdae.

1. The price is stated clearly. HAve to ask for the price for every item. No special price for tourist, some of the shop owners take a good look at me below quoting the price. Some reduced the price when I walk away by as much as few thousand won, wondering how much they charge me if I did not walk away. I am not really a pro at bargaining.

At EWha and hongdae, the price is stated clearly. 

2. I like the environment at ewha and hongdae as it is small little shops. There are cafes and snacks shops around for good food and well deserved rest. The place is more vibrant and happening.

If you are looking for more mature clothings for mums and dads and clothes with bigger size like uk12. It is better to shop at nandaemun. 

Korea seoul free and easy : Hongdae free market art market ( life meets art)

 The place is interesting and worth a visit.

I shall let the photos do the talking

VEnue : hongdae( hongik) playground

hours: 1300-1800

EVery saturday ( march to november)