Line CafeItaewon - Seoul
Line is a messaging app I mentioned in my post on Messaging Apps Around the World post. While South Koreans almost exclusively use Kakao, a second app that is gaining popularity in Korea is Line. Line is extremely popular in Japan, the creating country, and south-east Asia. Something that the company is doing to try and drive more downloads and usage of the app is by having these Line stores or cafes, with a huge emphasis on the emoticon characters that the app comes with and are rather popular. Kakao has its own characters, and while they are on many products from phone cases to chapstick and face masks, I have yet to see an exclusive store or cafe specifically for them.
While Seoul actually has several of these stores in Myeongdong and Gangnam areas, if you make a visit to the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul, you will see one of the biggest of these stores with a cafe on the top floor. It is actually very hard to miss this place because it is an entire building and not just a storefront. The building is wrapped in the iconic Line green color and pictures of its mascot emoticon characters.
This store is huge, and I almost felt like no one even purchases anything. It felt like the only reason people came here was to take pictures of the giant stuffed animals. Seriously, walking around and all you will see are people with their smartphones busted out taking pictures in every direction. So, I obviously had to get in on the action.
It even comes complete with a bus stop outside the cafe on the top floor.
While I do think it’s really cheesy, if you find yourself in Itaewon I recommend stopping by. The cafe has a nice view overlooking the street, and the prices are relatively the same as any other coffee shop in Seoul.
.jpg "Line Cafe Itaewon Seoul")
Has anyone else been to this cafe? How does this one compare to the other Line stores and cafes?
Cheers!
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