A Bookshop That Slows the Pace at IFC Mall

There is a point in IFC Mall where people begin to slow down. They are not coming to the food court or a café. Some head through the entrance and others stop for a moment on the way past. This is the IFC Mall branch of Youngpoong Bookstore.

A bookshop might seem out of place among Yeouido’s finance companies and office towers. A district that spends most of its day on figures, meetings and schedules has a use for somewhere to think about something else.

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A Quiet Place in a Financial District

People generally move quickly through the mall. At lunch they head for the restaurants. Later in the day they stop for coffee. The reason for coming is often clear.

Outside Youngpoong, the flow changes. People step in without a meeting or anything they particularly need to buy. It is one of the things a bookshop makes possible.

A bookshop can sell you something and give you somewhere to stay. In another shop I might leave as soon as I have finished. Here I can pick up a book and turn a few pages, and the pace of the mall recedes a little.

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A Calmer Floor Below the Restaurants

The shop is on B2, a calmer floor than the restaurants and cafés on B1. It is a good location for a bookshop.

The entrance is simple and open to the corridor, so there is little to stop you from walking in. Inside, it is larger than it looks from the mall, close in scale to a full-size bookshop.

There are shelves for business, self-help, literature, the humanities, languages and hobbies. Books on finance and investing draw particular attention, perhaps because of where the branch is. That is where I tend to see office workers standing longest.

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Books and the Things People Buy With Them

Alongside the books are pens, notebooks, planners, postcards and character merchandise.

I noticed people who came in for a book and bought a pen or a planner as well. Work supplies are a natural purchase here. The mix makes the shop useful for office stationery as well as for finding a book.

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Where People Go to Sit Down

There is surprisingly little seating for a shop this size. The rest of the mall helps explain it. Starbucks and other cafés are a short walk away. Picking a book and moving to a café to read it is easy.

People choose a book here and settle in somewhere else. It is common to see someone go straight to a café with the book they have just bought.

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Why Office Workers Drop In

Weekdays seemed to bring more visitors than weekends, a pattern that fits the district around the shop.

People drop in at lunch, spend ten minutes there before leaving work or browse while waiting to meet someone. The visits may be short and frequent.

For people who work in Yeouido, the shop is part of an ordinary route. New releases and bestsellers come through quickly. That makes it a convenient place to see what is being read.

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What a Bookshop Changes in a Mall

Most of IFC Mall is given over to eating, clothes, coffee and electronics. The bookshop changes the balance a little.

Shopping can be tiring when there is always another decision to make. In a bookshop, it is easy to spend time browsing without making a purchase.

That gives Youngpoong a role in the mall beyond what it sells. A route that had been moving quickly slows down at the entrance.

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A Break That Fits Into the Day

There are parks and riverside paths in Yeouido, but reaching one during the workday can take more time than you have.

Ten minutes in the bookshop after lunch or a few pages before going home can make the day less tiring. The shop is one of the places people who work nearby can use without planning a visit.

It was quiet enough without being silent, and busy enough without being exhausting. I found it one of the calmer places in the mall.