The city's traditional market is located next to the train station. The market by Daejeon Station is the general market, really nothing to write home about as far as appearances, the specialty stores are excellent, and you can get plants (from seeds to pots) which are not always easy to come by. Some household goods, and cheap clothes. The street to southeast, outside the market perimeter specialises in tools. South East Asian import canned and packet food including Mi Goreng (Indonesian-Malaysian dried instant noodles) and phonecards can be found at the International Food shop. Exit Daejeon Station through exit #3 and go straight for less than a minute. It's a very small shop that's located right in front of the traffic lights.
A second, slightly smaller traditional market exists in Yuseong. Further traditional markets still can also be found near Seodaejeon Korail station, opposite Hanbat stadium, and a little further east of the Dongbu Intercity bus terminal.
For further discounts, Nouen wholesale market is located north of Yuseong. Take the subway line and get off at the World Cup Stadium stop (the subway plays a little soccer themesong so you can't miss it).
There's a Costco directly beside Seodaejeon station. Costco offers OK discounted prices, and most everything is in bulk, but you can get some hard to find goods imported from the USA. You will need a personal (Gold Star) membership for 35,000 won, or you can use your card from home. It can solve dry food purchasing for a month or more in a single trip; watch out for seasonal specials, the November truffles make for nice, and cheap, gifts. The Seodaejeon area also has the stock standard Home Plus, as well as some clothing department stores. The area is becoming rapidly one of the most affluent in the city so expect to see more fancier outlets opening here over time. Uniqlo (Japanese unbranded clothing chain) is also located nearby in the basement floor of the Say Two Department Store (good to know in winter as it sells cheap thermals). The Lotte Department Store in Yongmun-dong has a Uniqlo as well (2nd floor).
E-Mart and Home Plus (Tesco) is relatively ubiquitous, and a bit dear too. It does however offer a variety of basic house goods for settling into a new home, deodorant, as well as basic general produce (both fresh and dry), which are marginally cheaper than the prices in most corner stores, as well as offering it all in one stop. If you can't afford to set up your new home here, perhaps try tracking down a Daiso, a Korean "1,000 won store" chain that stocks all sorts of kitchenware and just general use plastic items.
For cool summer shopping and warm winter shopping head underground. Underground shopping can be found connected to subway stops at Daejeon Station and Jungang-no, stops 104 & 105 respectively, on line 1.
If looking for general Korea souvenier-items, two shops, quite literally opposite one another are underground at subway Exit 2 of Daejeon station (stop 104 on Line 1). They specialise in a wide variety of trinkets including from mass-produced items from elsewhere in the country.
Also department store shopping is popular for the more affluent of Daejeon at Timeworld Galleria, Lotte Department Store and CGV; each of which also have a movie theatre on their top floor. Timeworld plays host to an array of full price brand outlets such as Burberry and Louis Vuitton, which despite the lacking crowds, still insists on having its patrons queue up to enter. The basement sells a wide variety of imported foods.
Most electronic needs can be found at TechnoWorld, which is close to KBS tower in Manneyong-dong, Seo-gu. For further consumer electronics, try the street running between Government Complex Daejeon subway station to Timeworld Galleria in the vicinity of Dunsan E-Mart: this street has no fewer than 3 electronics department stores Hi-mart, Jeonja Land plus smaller specialty stores LGgoodshop. Apple has a retailer called Frisbee outside Jungangno subway station, Jung-gu.
For funky independent-made items, keep an eye out for university-run arts fairs. Theres no real way to know when you'll find one, but they are seemingly quite common.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Daejeon
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Daejeon - updated Apr 2024
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Daejeon Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
