Shopping in Korea
Groceries and Home Goods
Two big supermarkets are Lotte Mart, pronounced "Lo-te Mart-ur", and Homeplus (Tesco). They can be found in any large city and just like at home you can get almost everything you need to live your life in them. Fruit and vegetables are expensive in Korea. The cheapest place to find them is at a local vegetable market/store. You will find some vegetables you know any many you don't. Remember the local stuff will be cheaper so learning to cook Korean food will save you a bomb.
You can find some western foods in the super markets, peanut butter is a good example. You will, however, pay a lot of money for them. Bread is very difficult to find but there are small bakeries around that do sell decent bread at a reasonable price. Cheese you can pretty much forget about as what they do sell is very expensive and usually pretty poor. Itaewon is an area of Seoul that is very western and you can buy most of the western food you crave, all be it at a price. The best place to find western and specialist foods in Korea is often online, iherb.com can be a lifesaver. You will need you ARC card to order from here.
A fantastic shop to look out for is Daiso, this is simular to a Wilkingson or discount store. You can get everything you need for your home and lots of thing you don't need too.
Two big supermarkets are Lotte Mart, pronounced "Lo-te Mart-ur", and Homeplus (Tesco). They can be found in any large city and just like at home you can get almost everything you need to live your life in them. Fruit and vegetables are expensive in Korea. The cheapest place to find them is at a local vegetable market/store. You will find some vegetables you know any many you don't. Remember the local stuff will be cheaper so learning to cook Korean food will save you a bomb.
You can find some western foods in the super markets, peanut butter is a good example. You will, however, pay a lot of money for them. Bread is very difficult to find but there are small bakeries around that do sell decent bread at a reasonable price. Cheese you can pretty much forget about as what they do sell is very expensive and usually pretty poor. Itaewon is an area of Seoul that is very western and you can buy most of the western food you crave, all be it at a price. The best place to find western and specialist foods in Korea is often online, iherb.com can be a lifesaver. You will need you ARC card to order from here.
A fantastic shop to look out for is Daiso, this is simular to a Wilkingson or discount store. You can get everything you need for your home and lots of thing you don't need too.
Electronics
If there is one thing that is expensive in Korea it's electronics. It can often be better to buy the second hand on craigslist, the link is here. Otherwise online shopping can be a good, Gmarket is the Korean eBay. It is in English but it can still be best to have a Korean speaking person help to avoid any confusion. A cheap 32" HDTV will typically cost 280,000 WON or about (£200) when shopping online while a well know brand can cost in excess of 500,000 WON (£300).
Mobile phones are hugely popular here. There are phone shops on every corner. Getting it set up is a little complicated. Click to see our dedicated guide.
If there is one thing that is expensive in Korea it's electronics. It can often be better to buy the second hand on craigslist, the link is here. Otherwise online shopping can be a good, Gmarket is the Korean eBay. It is in English but it can still be best to have a Korean speaking person help to avoid any confusion. A cheap 32" HDTV will typically cost 280,000 WON or about (£200) when shopping online while a well know brand can cost in excess of 500,000 WON (£300).
Mobile phones are hugely popular here. There are phone shops on every corner. Getting it set up is a little complicated. Click to see our dedicated guide.
Clothes and Fashion
Koreans are very fashion conscious, appearance is everything here. They have many fashion stores from Europe including Zara and H&M. Accessories are very popular and you will find hair accessories and tights everywhere. Socks will never be a problem, Koreans love socks and they are sold everywhere. There is also a huge market in decent quality fake designer hang bags. Additionally you will find all the big names in plentiful supply. You may however have a problem if you are even considered slightly tall or if your shoe size is bigger than a UK 6. Beware, most clothes that you buy will not be fitted and they tend to be fitted to the Korean frame, typically relatively straight up and down. Again Itaewon supplies everything you can need they have "big size" shops.
One of the best places for women's fashion is the recently famous Gangnam. Best advice here is not to spend more than 10,000 KRW on any one item as it will fall apart what ever you pay. If you are shopping at the markets bear in mind you wont be able to try the clothes on. There are many tailors around that will alter your clothes for you for a few thousand won (£2).Make up is good. Good brand is BB cream.
Koreans are very fashion conscious, appearance is everything here. They have many fashion stores from Europe including Zara and H&M. Accessories are very popular and you will find hair accessories and tights everywhere. Socks will never be a problem, Koreans love socks and they are sold everywhere. There is also a huge market in decent quality fake designer hang bags. Additionally you will find all the big names in plentiful supply. You may however have a problem if you are even considered slightly tall or if your shoe size is bigger than a UK 6. Beware, most clothes that you buy will not be fitted and they tend to be fitted to the Korean frame, typically relatively straight up and down. Again Itaewon supplies everything you can need they have "big size" shops.
One of the best places for women's fashion is the recently famous Gangnam. Best advice here is not to spend more than 10,000 KRW on any one item as it will fall apart what ever you pay. If you are shopping at the markets bear in mind you wont be able to try the clothes on. There are many tailors around that will alter your clothes for you for a few thousand won (£2).Make up is good. Good brand is BB cream.