Daiso Myeongdong Station Branch

Right outside Exit 1 of Myeongdong Station, this Daiso fills an entire building from the basement to the 12th floor, roughly 500 pyeong of shelves sorted by category. Daiso is Korea's go-to discount variety chain, and almost everything is priced in a handful of fixed tiers between 1,000 and 5,000 won. For travellers the useful floors are near the bottom: seasonal goods and checkout on the ground floor, beauty and toiletries on the 2nd, where budget skincare draws plenty of foreign shoppers, then character goods and snacks a few floors up. Higher floors cover kitchen, bath, gardening, camping and travel gear, handy if you need an umbrella, adaptor or extra pouch mid-trip. The building's floor-by-floor layout makes it easy to target what you want instead of hunting through one crowded room. It is listed by the Korea Tourism Organization as a tax refund shop, and Myeongdong Cathedral, Namsan Cable Car and the street food lanes are all within a short walk.