The Coex Mall

I wish I could somehow convey just how big Seoul’s Coex Mall is, but I can’t. Many readers of this blog are probably familiar with the Providence Place mall, which is decent in size. But the Coex is immense by comparison, and its intricate (and borderline confusing) multi-level size and modern feel completely trumps it.

It is only about a ten minute walk from the place I live. It has both indoor and outdoor areas. The map console you see here, located at one of the mall’s billion entrances, displays the mall’s different levels, spots, and stores. This map is a touch screen, and you can click on locations to discover more information about events, sales, and general announcements, etc.
I wish I could tell you more about this display here, but I can’t read Korean characters (yet). What you see here are numerous pairs of cardboard-framed red-tint glasses. They were free for the taking. My assumption (a product of my well-known genius intellect, see: CNN) is that they are for some sort of scavenger hunt. Perhaps you scour the mall scavenger-hunt style to look for clues on displays that are only perceptible using these (potentially 3-D) glasses. Maybe the prize is a car. Maybe it’s a free hamburger. Maybe it isn’t. But the mall has McDonald’s, as you see here, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and even a Quizno’s.

I was told by folks on the inside back in the states that Quizno’s is generally a notoriously unprofitable franchise to open. But the one in the Coex Mall survives, apparently. Hell, Wal-Mart tried to make it in Korea but was driven out of business by a Korean-owned competitor named E-Mart. Go figure! More on that in the future.

They have a very large and well-renowned bookstore in the mall, which had a considerably large section of books in English (and a section in Japanese, too). The first time I went to that bookstore I quickly stumbled upon the Korean-translation Harry Potter books! The ones here are all in paperback though, and they aren’t that big- so the last book, for example, was divided into four or five parts, each of which was contained in a separate book. Gyp, I say! I wonder if the books are available in an un-segmented form, perhaps only in hardcover.

I went to an arcade in the Coex mall- pretty similar to U.S. arcades. There are many large up-to-date games, but the row of games you see here (there is another row directly behind it that is equally as long) is a mix. The consoles are all the same shape but include both games with ps3 graphics as well as classics like Tetris and Bust-A-Move (similar to “snood”, if that helps). I spent 500 won each on two games of Tetris, which means about 40 cents per play. In both attempts I couldn’t make it past the third round, but I’ll be back. Maybe I’ll become Seoul’s first internationally known Tetris champ. Maybe I won’t. But jup my words, thank ya.

I also could not help but venturing into the Nintendo store, which was state of the art, complete with DS’s and games in the display window rotating on platforms for the eyes to adore. You see here a large row of seats with handheld games (DS’s, most likely) that you can pick up and try. “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” had a huge display setup as well as couple of large flat screen TV’s featuring that game’s footage throughout the store. I think that game was released simultaneously with the launch of the Wii (2006) in the U.S., but apparently it’s still a big deal here. Also pictured are a few instant-classic DS games, featured here in their Korean formats.




Finally, movies are a big deal here, and I was told that about 70% of new movies released in major theaters here are American Hollywood movies with Korean subtitles. The picture here is a poster for the new movie “Gamer,” an action movie that I saw trailers for before no less than two movies in the summer of 2009. Though I have not seen its inside, apparently the movie theater in the Coex mall is very large and nice. If I can, I’d like to go see that new Mike Judge movie, and maybe it having Korean subtitles will help me take another step towards understanding the Korean language.