Korea Expat BLog

Lunar New Year Shop Open Closed Days

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as The Republic of Korea instigated National Substitute Holiday System from 2014 : some Weeks and Weekends can become quite a vacation time with creative planning . but note only government offices, banks and Post Office official close as well as larger conglomerates, but smaller independentstores may choose to open during ever-depression times . but the most confusing are massive shopping complexes with branches situated in prime real-estate subway hubs, and larger so-called market districts where not all stores follow the same open dates nor hours . here three Weekends in the Chinese Year of the Chicken 2017 have welcome equations :

  • Lunar New Years Weekend at End of January – four days off,
  • Childrens, Parents and Teachers Days early May – can be five days if you add one in the middle
  • Oriental ThanksGiving sandwiched with Armed Forces Day and Korean Character-invention Day – a total of TEN days can be had if you can work early Monday somehow ~

 

And for this Lunar New Years, holiday details are :

  1. January 28 Saturday is the actual Lunar New Years
  2. with the before and after : holidays too for people to travel to return to their home-towns
  3. and Monday there-after is an additional holiday, put into effect from 2014 as one of these normal holiday dates fall into a Weekend //

 

But for now, larger and major shopping areas open and closed for Lunar Years 2017 :

  • Traditional (South Gate) NamDaeMun open market and (East Gate) DongDaeMun market’s holidays differ much depending upon retail and wholesale, then even on each floor so check my previous Post as it takes extended amount of time to conjure each year .
  • Conglomarate SuperMarts – most do not close at all, but may limit hours on actual Lunar New Years Day January 28 Saturday only !
  • Department Stores – where many extend to open 30~90 minutes more counting-down to and just after these major holidays :
    • Shinsegae open mostly 10:30/11am ~ 8:30, then until 10pm during Weekends, and close January 27 Friday and 28 Saturday, except Hanam StarField and DaeGu open Friday and MyeongDong main branch closed 29 Sunday .
    • Lotte open 10:30am~8pm and closes January 27 Friday and 28 Saturday .
    • HyunDai – all branches close on Lunar New Years on January 28 Saturday, while some also close either Friday or Sunday depending upon branch . Subsidiary building such as U-PLEX only close on Lunar New Years Day to adhere to their younger clientele .
  • Mall Complex (in South Korea this means rows of stores that connect main department stores above) do not have closing days, for constant customers .
  • Outlets : most close only on Lunar New Years Day January 28 Saturday (Lotte Outlet LINK)
  • CostCo open hours differ upon the few branches mostly 8/10am~10pm and closes every second and fourth Sunday, other-wise New Years Day, Lunar New Years and ThanksGiving Day only
  • IKEA’s first Korean branch at GwangMyeong KTX Station opens 10am~10pm and close only on actual Lunar New Years and ThanksGiving Day .

 

– Korea Expat BLog –

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