After heading back to Hongdae to find Karaoke, we actually ended up staying overnight at a multi-entertainment room. I'm not really sure what to call it, but we went out around midnight looking for a karaoke place and ended up at this business that had karaoke, movie facilities, wii and board games. We sang karaoke and watched movies - leaving around 5am. It cost 30,000 won for 12-8am, so it was a pretty good deal and experience. As we were walking home, we were amongst all these late night/early morning clubbers who were probably trying to catch the first train home.
The next day we headed across the river making a stop at Kyobo book store in Gangnam to purchase some albums from their Hot Tracks section, before heading to Coex. When we previously came to Korea, the Sum store was still being built and so we were excited to finally go in.
It was raining so I was unable to see the large papertoys of EXO and SHINee outside. They did have the SHINee ones inside as well though. When I previously had walked outside the artium, the pillars were bare, so it was interesting to see what they had done to the columns.
SM Artium is quite large, spreading across 6 floors with varying spaces. After heading up the escalator from the first floor Welcome Zone, the second floor is the Sum (Celebrity Store). The store sells various SM Entertainment merchandise as well as Artist Pick's, items which the idols have picked out themselves. They also sell affiliated clothing brands such as Freiknock (though not the full range) and do stock a small range of Infinite merchandise (very small.. remember, Infinite's label Woolim, was merged with SM C&C in 2013 and then unmerged in 2016).
They sell everything from posters and albums, to diaries and post cards, to papertoys and cushions. It was a bit sad yet amusing to see that in the EXO section, the most individual items left belonged to Suho, Xiumin, Lay; though I also found Kyungsoo, Chen, Kai and Sehun products. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were a bit rarer. I'm also sad regarding the EXO tote bags which I really liked the styles of, however were not released yet.
Another sad thing was that the TVXQ section was tiny. As a massive DBSK fan and devoted Cassie, I was so disappointed to see only one bench sparsely filled with TVXQ products (mainly Spellbound and Tense) while EXO had like. 5 areas. Even the TVXQ tshirts were ugly. They did have this photo lounge at the front of the store though. Oh, there's also a stamp section along one of the walls - so make sure to bring some paper or something you can stamp with the artist's or group's logo!
On the third floor is the SMTOWN Studio, where you can book a recording session or dance lesson. They also have Everysing, Music Video and Photoshoot studios, and makeup stations available here. On the hallway outside, the walls were covered in pictures. I was so surprised and excited to see the polaroid wall before I realised that it was printed and not real. Opposite the elevators and the polaroid wall, is a display cabinet filled with trophies from all the artists. It contains various awards such as: weekly music shows, Music Champion and MCountdown; to larger annual awards, MAMA, Golden Disc Awards and Gayo Daejuns.
Heading up to the third floor, the hallway is once again covered in artists pictures. Lining the hallway was another display cabinet, this one containing SNSD outfits and music video props. I didn't take a photo of it, but at the end there was a teddy bear with its guts spilling out which I thought was quite cool and hadn't spotted at all during their promotions (I'm assuming it was during Mr Mr).
The fourth floor contains the SMTOWN LIVErary (cafe), with the Sum Market in the entryway. The Sum Market sells foods such as ramyun, chips and chocolates with the artist and group's logos and pictures. The cafe similarly sells cupcakes, drinks, macarons and dining sets with the artist and group's names. We didn't purchase anything as we were quite full (though I have no idea from what, bubble tea perhaps) and it was quite expensive. You could also purchase drink bottles and LP's here. The LP's could contain the songs from the original album, or could be customised. They were bright pink and then had the artists custom design on top. Some of the designs were cool but others were.. unattractive. I'm not sure how I feel about the TVXQ one (its the line made out of their face profiles, can be seen in the TVXQ lounge picture above)
The fifth and sixth floors contain the SMTOWN Theatre where they have hologram or surround view concerts and musicals. There is also a photobox where you can take pictures with your idols, and 3D printing. Around a corner, there is an area with trick art of the idols and another area where there are sculptures of the artists' hands. There is also a machine which can read your hand measurements and match it up to the artists, telling you which celebrities match you the most or giving you a percentage of how well matched you are to a specific idol. You can also buy merchandise for the School of Oz musical here. If you are interested in watching a concert or musical, I would recommend looking up the times in advance as they only show 2-4 each day.
After delaying over deciding whether we would watch a show or not (we ended up not because I didn't want to spend so much money and the show starting soon was not the one I really wanted to see) we headed back to Coex Mall to eat. We ate at a new food court that had opened up and had so much staff, there were literally people waiting for you to finish your food so they could come and clean up. There was also an entertainment shop that had VR experience and photobooths. The VR experience cost 10,000 Won and lasted a few minutes. They had a few different programs that varied in intensity and scariness to choose from. I would definitely recommend it if you haven't tried it before and don't get motion sick. The photobooths cost 8,000 won and the staff there can change money for you.
Directions:
Kyobo Book Store (Gangnam location) - Next to Sinnonhyeon Station on Line 9, exit 6 or 7 should lead you directly to the Kyobo entrance.
Coex Mall - Next to Bongeunsa Station on Line 9, Exit 7 or from Samseonog Station on Line 2 Exit 6 and follow the path to the left and forwards for a while.
Times Square Mall - From Yeongdongpo Station on Line 1, Exit 6 or 3 should lead you into an underground shopping mall that connects to Times Square. Coming from the train station, Times Square would be on your left hand side. Alternatively, if you cross the road from Exit 6 (I can't actually remember if there was a crossing or if you had to go underground as the road was quite large, but regardless - if you remain above ground), you should continue forwards and Times Square should be a large building on your left. This side facing you is the back, so do not be worried if the building does not look like the pictures online.
faithfully,
Mai
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