Hello! This is Realworld, a playable content platform. The popup store craze continues even into 2025. When we think of popup stores, Seongsu naturally comes to mind - it's truly the epicenter of popup stores, with as many as 50 popup stores opening in a single week. In the heart of Seongsu, this battlefield of popup stores, Realworld is captivating the younger generation with differentiated spatial experiences. You want to run a popup store too but don't know who to contact? Don't worry - Realworld is here for you.
Did you know that a popup store planned by Realworld won an award? The cultural tourism festival popup store 'Corner-to-Corner Shop,' a collaboration between Realworld and the Korea Tourism Organization, was selected for the Excellence Award in the Public/Local Government category at the 2024 Korea Popup Store Awards! This achievement from Korea's only popup store awards is truly remarkable, and we were impressed by the judges' comments: 'The idea of transforming everyday activities into new experiences is fresh, and the surprising experience design linking shopping with content was outstanding.'
Realworld's Complex Cultural Space: 'Realworld Seongsu'
Realworld operates a complex cultural space called 'Realworld Seongsu' in Seongsu-dong. This space is both a cafe and a venue for various unique experiences like open-format escape games and 'immersive theater' performances where there are no boundaries between audience and stage, making it popular among the MZ generation. Although it's slightly away from Seongsu-dong's main street, nearby large exhibition spaces like S-Factory create synergistic foot traffic effects.
Let's look at some examples of popup stores that have operated at Realworld Seongsu.
Cultural Tourism Festival Popup Store: Corner-to-Corner Shop
'Corner-to-Corner Shop,' operated in April 2024, was a cultural tourism festival popup store created through collaboration between Realworld and the Korea Tourism Organization. While subway station advertisements naturally come to mind for regional festival promotion, Realworld wanted to break these stereotypes. With the passion to create festivals that young people would seek out, it was operated as a mart concept featuring 15 domestic festivals.
Breaking away from conventional standardized festival promotion methods and creating a new, hip space, 'Corner-to-Corner Shop' sparked enthusiastic responses from the younger generation. Trendy people in their 20s made up the largest portion of online engagement, and over 12,000 visitors came during the 16-day operation period, demonstrating tremendous popularity. Particularly, the MZ + α (alpha) generation comprised 90% of all visitors, proving the success of targeting young demographics.
Gyeonggi Western Region Cultural Tourism Council Popup Store: 'In Search of Life's Masterpiece'
'In Search of Life's Masterpiece,' operated in September 2024, was a popup store promoting tourism resources from 7 cities in Gyeonggi's western region. To break away from typical tourism promotion and provide immersive experiences that emphasized story and concept, Realworld Seongsu was reborn as a film production company. The concept was so well-executed that passersby sometimes mistook it for an actual movie popup store and visited, while real actors, models, and MCs provided visitors with the experience of becoming movie stars.
The 'In Search of Life's Masterpiece' popup store was a box office success, with 3,629 visitors far exceeding the KPI target of 3,000. Moreover, it went viral online, recording over 1000% more SNS mentions compared to the same period last year. True to its original purpose of revitalizing tourism in the 7 cities of Gyeonggi's western region, it significantly helped improve favorability and recognition of these cities.
Dreamcatcher Collaboration Promotion
Realworld met K-Pop. In July 2024, we operated a collaborative popup store as part of the promotion for global K-Pop group Dreamcatcher's 10th mini-album 'VirtuouS,' and as expected, many fans flocked to Realworld Seongsu, creating a bustling atmosphere. Unlike traditional idol popup stores that display photos and props, this popup store at Realworld Seongsu offered mission-type content utilizing Dreamcatcher's worldview, becoming like a 'pilgrimage site' for fans.
Analysis of sales results defied expectations that beverage orders would be overwhelmingly dominant due to their relatively lower prices - instead, beverage orders and game orders appeared nearly equal. This suggests that the new experience of escape rooms utilizing Dreamcatcher's worldview paired perfectly with limited rewards like photocards.
Due to Dreamcatcher's international popularity, there were noticeably many foreign visitors, and we provided English-version content to create a popup store that anyone could enjoy regardless of nationality. This demonstrates how Realworld's solid planning capabilities supported the successful operation of this popup store.
Popup Stores and Spatial Experiences - Realworld is the Answer
Popup stores that people line up to visit - with Realworld, you can turn imagination into reality. Realworld's popup stores, collaborating with various organizations from local governments to K-Pop groups, have led to successful results by combining Realworld's unique planning capabilities with the attractive venue of Realworld Seongsu to create synergy.
If you want to open a popup store, if you want to design new spatial experiences, contact Realworld! For more detailed information, please check the link below. Thank you.