''Jongro Seojuk'', or less known as Jongro Book Center, was the main center of book shopping in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

for many book fanatics over the decades. It opened in 1907 and declared bankruptcy in June 2002. Jongro Seojuk became a common rendezvous place.

History

The book store was started by the Church of the Message of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

, in 1907, who bought a timber-built tile-roof house, first started off by selling books relating to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, over the years it changed its name from Kyomoon Seogwan, Jongro Seogwan and in 1963, by adopting the name "Jongro Seojuk Center", it became the leading bookstore of Seoul. Slowly over the 1990s, the 300 strong employee base dwindled to a meager 50, and finally in 2002, not being able to reverse its $11.5 million deficit, it declared bankruptcy. It apparently looked for a third party buyer, but no one came to their rescue. It declared bankruptcy in June 2002, right in the middle of the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. The reasons for its bankruptcy were rumored being for its lack of parking space, introduction of internet book stores, and general lack of customer service, the fact that one had climb through five different floors to look for a book, and its size. There were also those who criticized its sureness of its future, its reliance on old customers, and how it was run by people who believed that Jongro Seojuk would survive. There was no action in response to the expansion of the new Kyobo Moongo, which opened in 1981; it also did not try to change its image or store with the times. Marketing failed, and customer-company relationship had become nonexistent by the 1990s. It still managed to rake in a few loyal customers until the mid 1990s, but after 2000, Jongro Seojuk was overshadowed by the newer book stores in Jongro.

References

{{reflist Bookstores of South Korea Jongno District

History

See also

References