Banpo becomes site of Christians’ retail pilgrimages

The four Banpo Shopping Town buildings that house Banpo Christian Culture Street.

Shoppers frequent the neighborhood near Express Bus Terminal in Banpo-dong, Gangnam Distict, southern Seoul, throughout the week.

Central City, one of the biggest underground shopping centers in the capital city, spreads across nearly 120,000 square meters linked to the terminal. Towering above it is the nine-story Shinsegae Department Store.

The terminal and the meandering halls of the underground shopping arcade are home to, among others, a large wholesale flower market, a Christmas craft market and hundreds of no-frills clothes shops.

But save for a faithful faction, few are aware that just across the street lies Banpo Christian Culture Street.

Several large Christian bookstores and dozens of stores of religious paraphernalia are situated in the area, deemed the nation’s biggest wholesale and retail Christian shopping center since its creation a quarter century ago.

That designation carries some weight in Korea, given that the country boasts Asia’s second biggest Christian population next to the Philippines.

“Judging from the density of stores, it could be called the biggest market for Christian materials [in Korea], but we don’t have any official data to prove that,” said Shin Hye-jung, an official of the Korea Christian Bookstores Association.

According to Shin, there are approximately 400 Christian bookstores across the country. Of the 20 largest, three are located on Banpo Christian Culture Street.

“If you are a Christian, you can find anything [religious] you want at Banpo Shopping Town,” said Song Woo-shin, an executive of the association of shops selling Christian materials.

The religious market is scattered across four of the eight Banpo Shopping Town “dong,” which line the street across from Central City. Dong, a term for the smallest urban administrative unit in Korea, is also used a unit for buildings.

Each Banpo Shopping Town dong is a five-story building identical to the ones around it. The Christian shops are located on first and second floors of the dong numbered 3, 4, 5 and 6. The rest of the floors and the other Banpo shopping town dong, usually quiet places with few customers, mostly house realtors or other small industrial goods stores.

The eight Banpo shopping town buildings opened in the early 1980s. At the time, what is now the affluent Gangnam area was in an early stage of development. The locations around the bus terminal were the some of the first plots that developers and business owners -including retailers of Christian goods - considered for development.

According to government data, the 1970s and 1980s saw rapid growth of Presbyterian churches in Korea, which now number around 50,000.

To build a church, people needed customized furniture, musical instruments and religious paraphernalia like wooden crosses and robes for ministers and choirs. Meanwhile, more people wanted to read the Bible and other books about Christianity that could help them broaden their knowledge of the religion. As demand grew, many started businesses such as Christian bookstores, which grew in clusters to attract more customers. They specifically chose the area around the bus terminal to serve out-of-town customers on a pilgrimage of sorts to Seoul.

“We gathered around the terminal because many of the Christian item shoppers in Seoul were also selling the items to retail shops in regional areas or directly to churches there,” said Lim Myeong-seop, an official of the association of shoppers at the Korea Christian Department Store.

The department store, comprising a bookstore called Hosanna and 13 other Christian item shops, rented the second floor of the 5-dong in 1984, sowing the seeds of the Christian Culture Street.

Within months, Jordan Christian Book Center and Emmaus Christian Bookstore, both as large as around 1,000 square meters, found homes on the second floors of dong 6 and 4, respectively. Emmaus moved to Macheon, eastern Seoul in 2003.

Individual Christian goods stores, including Crystal Holy Good, also began to flock to the Banpo Shopping Town buildings. The shop, which launched in the 1990s, has sold crystal pulpits to churches here and abroad.

Yoon Suk-kyung, manager of the shop, said exports are becoming a growing source of income for many businesses on the street.

“We export pulpits to the U.S., China, Japan, the Philippines and African countries,” said Yoon. “Some other shops here also sell their goods overseas. We may not be that large in size, but because of our combined skills, the goods made in Korea and sold here are becoming popular in foreign countries.”

Word of Life Press, a leading Christian publishing company, has owned a bookstore of the same name in Gwanghwamun since 1963. The company opened a bigger outlet on the second floor of the Banpo Shopping Town 3-dong in 1991.

Now, the Gangnam branch of Word of Life Press is the biggest and most popular spot on the Banpo Christian Culture Street. With an area of about 1,200 square meters, the bookstore’s wares include about 40,000 different books, Christian music CDs and other religious goods. According to the branch’s manager, Shin Chang-yoon, monthly sales at the branch reach up to 300 million won ($240,674). Woo Eun-seok, a 37-year-old student at a Seoul-based theological school, is one of the many regulars.

Pulpits are on sale at a Christian goods shop on Banpo Christian Culture Street in southern Seoul. By Jeon Min-kyu

“I live in Suwon but there is no large Christian bookstore like this down there, so when I come to Seoul to go to school, I come here,” Woo said, taking a break from reading a book. “There are many really good books here, so I am sorry that not many people know this place.”

Shin, the branch manager, said a total of 15 employees including himself work there and many, if not all, find the job rewarding.

“We feel happy that we may have contributed to broadening the understanding of Christianity in the country through the books we sell,” said Shin. “Many shop owners on Christian Culture Street have also provided a sort of Christian infrastructure.”

By Moon Gwang-lip [joe@joongang.co.kr]