Kim's Club - Ingyedong New Core Outlet

So, I was going to Ingyedong yesterday (Saturday) to pick up a few groceries even though I live 2 blocks from a Homeplus. The problem with living so close to Homeplus is that you feel weird taking a taxi home even if you have a lot of stuff - at least I feel weird doing that. So when I go to Homeplus, I only grab a few things that I stick in my backpack. I don't like carrying bags in my hands for very long since it starts to hurt quite a bit - carpal tunnel issues. So I will take a taxi over to the Ingyedong New Core outlet and go to the Kim's Club in the basement.

If you're not familiar with Ingyedong, it's a nice area - I used to spend a lot of time there. I'll try to give a rough map (I'm on my netbook using MS Paint so....yeah...) with some landmarks that people might be familiar with in the area. Kim's Clubs can typically be found in the basements of New Core Outlets or sometimes as small stand alone neighborhood markets.

Yup...that's all ya get
To get to this area from Yeongtong, you can take a taxi and tell the driver "Ingyedong New Core," but pronounce "core" like "co-ah." In Korean, I believe it's written as 뉴코어, so pronounce it this to keep the drivers from looking at you like you've grown a second head. There are also two buses that go by the outlet - the 2-1 and and 13-1. It takes about 30 minutes or so on either one (catch them going away from the Homeplus in Yeongtong).

So why do I come all the way over here to pick up a few groceries? Several reasons, really, and I don't have pictures because I didn't feel like juggling my camera along with my shopping basket to take them. One reason is that they are never packed with people like Homeplus and E-Mart. One reason that I avoid Homeplus is there are just waaaay too many people. Kim's Club is never packed like that, so I'm not fighting my way through people to look at vegetables. They also have a broad enough selection of products and a few things you can't find at Homeplus. It's a smaller store, but they have enough stuff that it doesn't matter - a nice mix of local and imported goods. I picked up some frozen raspberries for a friend while I was there because they can't really be found anywhere else. They also have frozen blueberries, mangoes, cherries, and strawberries. The frozen food section is really quite nice: frozen pizza, tater tots, french fries, mandu, and other stuff. The dairy and cheese section isn't as full as Homeplus, but you can still get a nice variety of items. They also have a small selection of household goods like towels, bathroom stuff, pots and pans, etc. They also have a nice, but small, wine and beer selection.

So if you need to pick up a few groceries or other items and don't want to deal with crowds, you should give Kim's Club a shot - you might find your new market :)