Furniture shopping

Kiss My Kimchi made me think about moving and getting furniture recently. Not many teachers have an apartment with room enough to fit a couch, but I started looking around at good deals and for those of you who can manage to fit a small or full-sized couch in your apartment, here's some solutions!

First, Sadang Furniture Street is chalked full of owners who have small furniture stores ranging from chairs to bed sets. It was recently featured in the Joongang Daily newspaper. Sadang Furniture Street store owners boast cheaper prices than your average retailers and home furnishings at reduced prices, especially attractive to new home owners. To get to this furniture fiesta, take the subway to Isu station (olive green and light blue lines 7 and 4 respecitvely.) Take either exit 1 or 14 and you will see a medium-sized street full to the brim with small shops and vendors hanging around waiting to make their next sale.

Next, perhaps an even more economical option is Gmarket, which is an online shopping outlet with many different vendors competing for the cheapest prices of many different items. You name it, Gmarket has it. This Internet sales site has affordable prices and very quick delivery. You can also contact the sellers directly with questions and special delivery requests. (Also very practical for those of you with bigger shoe sizes and who are looking for cheap shoes in your size.)

Next is Craig'slist Korea, which is a well-known site for anything and everything. Often times, one can find FREE furniture for your apartment. The downside to Craig'slist is that you usually have to arrange for your own delivery on larger items. Prices are usually negotiable and like Gmarket, most sellers on Craigslist are able to be contacted with questions and special requests.

Finally, there's the most economical and perhaps most physically demanding option : dumpster diving. While you'll be hard up to find a dumpster in Seoul filled with couches, TV stands, reclining chairs, etc., you will often see things placed out on the side of the street for the garbage collectors to pick up. These things are more often than not OK for the taking. A helper or two may be needed in order to get the actual item from its place to its future home, but it's much cheaper than delivery. Give it a quick wipe down with bleach/cleaner and water and it's good to go!

These are only a few of the many options that exist in Korea for furniture seekers. Happy furniture hunting!