Eulji-ro thrift store windbreaker haul after Dongmyo: Viva Trade

What the Dongmyo flea market is really like on a weekend

I went to Dongmyo Station a while back for some Dongmyo vintage shopping. It was my first time visiting the place I'd only seen on TV, and since it was the weekend, there were re-al-ly a lot of people.

Seriously... parking at the Dongmyo public lot on a weekend is like finding a needle in a haystack, and I got jostled around by the crowds nonstop. Lol.

Since it was my first time vintage shopping I didn't really know what to expect, but things really were cheap. Old clothes and stuff were just piled up on the ground, and I saw a cute rabbit fur muffler and asked the price — 2,000 won...!? Seriously that's so cheap, I thought, and figured I'd grab lunch and come back to buy it. But by the time I came back, that whole stall had been picked completely clean. My (?) rabbit fur muffler had already found its owner...!

3 tips for shopping vintage at Dongmyo

• If you like something, buy it right away. First come, first served. Go around once and come back, and it's gone.
• Cash only. Many places won't take cards, let alone bank transfers. Bring your own bag too, since a lot of stalls don't give you one.
• Just leave your car at home on weekends. (I really didn't want to find out about that parking hell the hard way. 🥲)

After one full loop of Dongmyo, I quickly accepted that I wasn't going to manage to buy anything there, and moved locations. So the place I moved to was — Viva Trade Eulji Dundaun Dongdaemun Branch. 🤗

Viva Trade Eulji Dundaun Dongdaemun Branch: location and parking

Viva Trade Eulji Dundaun Dongdaemun Branch is on the 5th floor of Lotte Dundaun, at 264 Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul. It's close to Exit 11 of Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station, open daily from 10:30 to 21:00, with 2 hours of free parking when you make a purchase at Viva Trade.

Plenty of parking spots so no worries there, and the basic 2 hours of parking support means you can browse comfortably — and it can even go up to 3 hours if combined with other stores. 😊

A clean entrance to Viva Trade. A place where you can push a shopping cart through a big 200-pyeong store and still get that Dongmyo vintage-shopping feeling.

Extra 20-50% off promotion and how the Viva Trade floor is laid out

As luck would have it, I visited during a promotion period, so I got an extra 20-50% off the tag price. 😊

Branded items were grouped together separately, and summer clothes/winter clothes had their own sections, which made browsing easy. Let me show you the pieces that caught my eye. 😊

A cute Nike tank dress. If it were summer, I might have grabbed it. 🤭

A shirt I hesitated over — the fabric was soft and the fit was nice. It was pretty, but it wrinkled easily so I put it back down. There were also a lot of cute knit cardigans.

A leather jacket and trench coat that looked pretty good quality. These were pretty too.

Lots of comfy-looking hoodies too. Nike ones were mostly around ₩30,000, and it looked like there was an extra 20% off.

There was even a clean Calvin Klein jumper — if the size fits, there's a lot to score here.

The accessories and Hello Kitty corner at Viva Trade

There was a separate accessories corner and a Kitty corner. I got totally distracted in front of the Kitty stuff, debating whether to buy something... 😝 Make sure you check out the Kitty corner too. 🤭

Viva Trade vs Dongmyo street stalls: fitting rooms, washing and steaming

I got so absorbed browsing that I lost track of time. Compared to the Dongmyo vintage street, it was very clean, and the fitting rooms were properly set up like a regular shop, which gave me the courage to try things on. Lol.

Apparently all of Viva Trade's clothes are laundered and then high-temperature steamed before being displayed. Maybe that's why the staff were busy steam-ironing away. 😊

What I bought at Viva Trade: an imported-brand windbreaker

I also bought an imported-brand windbreaker. The fabric was good and the details were pretty, perfect for this season.

I think it's best to look mainly for well-made clothes without any wear, and branded outerwear rather than base layers, if you want to score good finds. After bringing it home, washing it up, and wearing it out, nobody could tell it was secondhand. I think I'll get a lot of wear out of it. 🥰 Next time I feel like secondhand shopping again, I'll be heading back to Dundaun Viva Trade Dongdaemun branch.