Lotte Mart, Suwan, Gwangju

Today was the big day. Everyone has been talking about it at school for the last month. Lotte Mart had it's Grand Opening today, September 24, 2009. This may not be that big of a deal for many of you, but for the residents of Suwan, this is BIG NEWS. The development of Lotte Mart is bringing a lot of businesses to the area. Suwan, which is my neighborhood, is the home of the first-ever Toys-R-Us in Korea! We are also getting Baskin Robbins, a new coffee shop, and Nike, Puma, Fila, and Adidas shops. I know this because I see the signs for them on my walk to school.


So I decided to check out the Grand Opening tonight. I'm glad I went, but I'll never go to a Grand Opening again. It was worse than the mall the day after Thanksgiving. Lotte Mart is a very short walk for me. It is about 4 blocks, or 15 minutes. It is very, very close. Usually, on a Thursday night, the area is very quiet and you are lucky if you see a few people walking around. Tonight was a different story.


There were police directing traffic at the intersection, and guards directing traffic into the 4-story parking garage. People were milling about everywhere, and the cars were double parked.

I didn't spend too much time looking around because it was way to packed. I know there are 4 stories of outlet shops, and a grocery store on the other half. Since I knew I needed some basics, I headed towards the grocery area. I saw tons of crazy things- mushrooms for 129,000 won (about $100), lots of seaweed, fresh fish, rice, and of course, fresh kimchi. I didn't even know where to begin. I had to ask for help to get a basket because I didn't know where they were located, but luckily there were clerks at EVERY end cap, just like all the other Lotte and E-Marts.

I just picked up the basics- rice, seaweed, body lotion, mozzarella, tomatoes, italian dressing, and hair gel. I decided to get organic rice because 1) it was the smallest/cheapest bag 2) I know I'm going to be here a year, but do I really need 20 kilos of rice? 3) I didn't feel like lugging 20 kilos of rice home! And the seaweed, well, when in Rome! And, its pretty tasty! I'm really looking forward to the mozzarella!

I saw a lot of crazy things, but I think the most interesting things are the people. There must have been some pretty good sales going on. I saw a person with 11 packages of 24 rolls of toilet paper. It was taller than him. Not kidding, here's a picture!

It wasn't until I saw him on the other side of the checkout that I realized/counted 14 packages! Really, how much TP does a person NEED??

In all, it was a very exciting experience, and I'll definitely be going back sometime soon, probably to see the Toys-R-Us!