Common Ground: largest container shopping mall in the world

January 2, 2019

—

If you love hipster experiences, hipster places, hipster photos, hipster food, hipster fashion, basically everything hipster, Common Ground is the place to go.

Common Ground is Korea’s first pop-up store built with 200 large shipping containers.

Located near to Konkuk University, Common Ground is Korea’s first pop-up shopping mall that is built with 200 large shipping containers. Many of the shops here are from up-and-coming new designers!

I wouldn’t exactly count myself as a hipster. But this is a popular tourist destination, so I figured I might as well visit and see for myself exactly how hipster this mall would be.

What to do at Common Ground

You have to walk a short distance from the nearest subway station, but this is in fact very easy to spot. How could you miss all these stacked blue shipping containers, right?

This is a very popular photo-taking spot among both locals and tourists because, well, hipsters.

Those blue containers definitely make for a good photo background though!

You’ll find these food trucks around the area, although not all of them are open for business. I find the food sold at Common Ground to be rather expensive as well, so we gave them a miss.

This bakery, MilkCow in Boots, has been featured on Tasty Road before!

They are famous for their cube-shaped bread, and you have to wait for them to bake a fresh batch if they’re out of stock. We waited for about 10 minutes and bought some back to the hotel, but I definitely recommend eating them ASAP because best eaten warm!

Alegria Coffee Roasters – Caramel Macchiato

The coffee at Alegria Coffee Roasters is made from well-roasted beans and smell superbly good. I also love the relaxing environment here, a good break from the bustle of the city outside.

Unfortunately, Google shows that it is permanently closed 🙁 I guess rental must be very expensive.

There are also some Korean up-and-coming designer shops at Common Ground for you to do some shopping. However, it’s out of most people’s budgets (think expensive, hipster fashion and crafts).

I’m all for supporting new designers, but you have to be mentally prepared to pay more here than the shops in say, Dongdaemun or Ewha.

Is Common Ground worth visiting?

Would I visit Common Ground again?

To be honest, I didn’t come back on my following trip because it really was a bit overhyped (in my opinion).

It’s a nice place to visit, relax, and take some photos while you’re at it, but not exactly a place you would keep going back to visit.

Of course, some people might tell you that this is a must-see for your first trip to Seoul, but ultimately it’s your trip, so you decide if you really want to spend your money and time here.

DIRECTIONS

Address: 200, Achasan-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul

[Subway]
Konkuk University Station (Seoul Subway Line 2 or 7), Exit 6.
Walk straight for 250m to arrive at destination.

Related Posts: