Jongno Books (Jongno Seojuk), Korea's oldest bookstore, is reopening today in Seoul 14 years after its closing. The Korea Herald reported that the business, which is now operating under a different parent company and management, "will replace the Jongno Tower branch of bookstore chain Bandi & Lunis." A former executive of the Youngpoong Bookstore chain is running the new store.
Launched by a Jesuit organization in 1907, Jongno Bookstore became "a popular meet-up and cultural hangout of the time," the Korea Herald noted, adding: "Later in the 1980s, new bookstore chains including Kyobo Book Center and Youngpoong Bookstore joined the market. The 97-year-old bookstore gradually gave way to the new chains and public demand for online bookstores, ultimately going out of business in 2002."