Article at a Glance

After revitalizing formerly neglected areas such as Ikseon-dong and Changsin- dong in Seoul and Soje-dong in Daejeon and establishing commercial districts there, space developer “Glow Seoul” has expanded into planning and construction projects for major retailers like Lotte and Shinsegae, and when designing offline stores, the company strictly follows these principles:

1. It considers the “sequential flow” of the space by following customers’ sight lines both horizontally and vertically.

2. Based on the “peak-end rule,” it places the greatest emphasis on the store’s center and exit (or entrance).

3. It follows the “60:40 rule,” using only 60 percent of the total area for sales and filling 40 percent with content.

4. It does not plan artificial “photo zones” designed solely to photograph well with minimal production costs.

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“If the desserts are good, the drinks are poor; if the interior is nice, the desserts are bad; if both the desserts and drinks are good and the interior is nice, there’s no seat for me.”
This is the content of a post titled “Characteristics of Korean Cafes” that was uploaded to X last year and received a wave of recommendations. Anyone who has visited a newly emerging domestic hotspot, a so-called “hot place,” only to turn away after seeing the long waiting line, cannot help but relate to the phrase “there’s no seat for me.” This is because places that gained word-of-mouth for good food and atmosphere are always packed with trend- setting visitors, leaving no room to step foot. It’s common for people to turn back after realizing that joining the “insider” ranks by trying to leave even a single verification photo on social media is not easy.

However, there is a company that turns every store it touches—from restaurants and cafes to spas and shopping malls, regardless of industry—into such hard-to-squeeze-into “hot places.” “Glow Seoul” is the protagonist, called the “Midas touch” of offline space operations and earning envy not only from small business owners but also from large corporations. Glow Seoul began attracting attention by successively making restaurants and cafes such as “Cheongsudang,” “Oncheonjip,” “Salladaeng Bangkok,” and “Hotel Seine Jang” in Ikseon- dong successful, and transforming the heart of Jongno, which had been lined with abandoned houses, into a dating destination. In 2014, it opened its first modern stores in a secluded alley of Ikseon-dong, breathing vitality into a neighborhood with few people. And using this success story as a springboard, it created a cafe street that preserved the architectural style of Japanese colonial-era houses in Soje-dong, Daejeon, where no one had shown interest. Recently, it is transforming the cliff village of Changsin-dong in Seoul, which is located 120 meters above sea level and difficult even to climb on foot, into a sanctuary for young people. If you climb up to the cliff village with doubt, wondering “Would people really come to such a remote place?”, you encounter groups of Generation Z busy taking photos while wearing sneakers.

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