Brief history of Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market of South Korea
Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market or Noryangjin Seafood Market first opened near the Seoul Station.
As Imperial Japan took over the Korea Peninsula, Japanese food culture inevitably entered Korea and the demand of seafood increased.
Under the name Kyeong Sung seafood market(경성부 수산시장), several fish markets were acquired and became the first large scale seafood wholesale market in Seoul.
The Kyeong Sung seafood market later relocated to Noryangjin and became the Norayngjin Fisheries Wholesale Market. In 2016, the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market renovation was completed where the old market is now the soccer and baseball field of Norayngjin.
The renovation of the Noryangjin seafood had many conflicts with the merchants and the governments. Despite the conflicts, many assess the renovation of the Norayngjin seafood market is successful.
Introduction of Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market of South Korea
Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market or Noryangjin Seafood Market is the largest seafood wholesale market that supplies Seoul, Gyeonggi-do and some parts of the Chungcheong-do region.
On average, 240,000 pounds or 120 tons of seafood per a day enters the auction of Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market of South Korea.
About 200~250 tons of seafood is dealt in a day at the Norayngjin Fisheries Wholesale Market that supplies seafood to about 20~25% of the whole population of South Korea.
The Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market is arguably one of the largest seafood markets in Asia with live fish and all sorts of seafood.
Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market Location and Map
Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market, 674 Nodeul-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul / Main Number : 02-2254-8000~1
Transportation to the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market
By Subway - Exit 7 of Line 9 or Exit 9 of Line 1
By Car - Noryangjin-road: Use the three-way intersection of the fish market to enter the seafood market
Nodeul-road: Use the Nodeul-gil Daebang Station
Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market Opening Hours
It may depend on each individual store and business; however the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market itself operates 24 hours all year long.
Even in the holiday seasons, markets open as the demand for seafood is the highest during the holiday seasons.
The wholesale market and the auction, however, open at 10 PM(you can start buying after around 01:00 AM) and close during Lunar New Years(Seul), Thanksgiving(Chuseok) and New Years Eve and Sundays. Below is the general operating hours of the retail stores.
High-class 00:00 ~ 24:00
General 01:30 ~ 22:00
Frozen 03:30 ~ 22:00
Shellfish 01:00 ~ 22:00
Dried Fish 23:00 ~ 19:00
Salted Seafood 03:00 ~ 19:00
Difference between Wholesale and retail
The major difference between wholesale and retail is the final consumer. The wholesale market is usually a B2B model between businesses while retail is a B2C model between a business and the consumer (an individual).
Wholesale markets would deal goods and products in mass bulks, for other wholesale businesses, manufacturers or retail businesses etc.
Retail markets would sell products to the consumers. Wholesale markets usually have fewer overhead costs while the retail markets would have a higher overhead cost.
The Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market open the wholesale market early at dawn along with the auctions where it would usually end before 07:00 AM.
The retail markets of Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market would vary but there are 24 hours as well. Some businesses operate both retail and wholesale markets.
Different types of business in the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market
Although very simplified, the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market hosts retail businesses and wholesale businesses. However, in detail, there are many more different types of businesses in the market.
Some businesses are seafood processors where they would utilize the space at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market to simply filet the fish before they are shipped to other manufacturers or businesses.
In the basement, there is a freezing storage business and major seafood processing companies that operate.
Also, there are restaurants called ‘chojang jib’ that would cook and serve the seafood the consumer bought from the market while serving some basic banchan (the small dishes of South Korea) and drinks.
패류 – Orange Sign stores at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market
“패류” means “shellfish” in Korean, however the stores with the orange sign that states 패류 don’t necessarily only sell shellfish although they might specialize in sales of shellfish.
The 패류(Paeryu) orange signed stores at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market are usually both wholesale and retail businesses.
In the morning and dawn, the orange sign 패류 stores would filet and prepare seafood and send them to their partner businesses. In the afternoon and night these orange sign 패류 stores would start their retail businesses.
선어 – Green sign stores at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market
“선어” means “fresh fish” in Korean. Normally, fish is of course distributed dead in the market. However, in South Korea, seafood has much strict standards and live fish are easily distributed into the market.
Even local restaurants may have their own aquarium with live fish.
So, seafood standards would have to state whether the fish is dead or alive. “선어”(Seon Uh) green sign stores, however don’t necessarily only treat dead fish(cause it means dead doesn’t mean they aren’t fresh) but usually the 선어 green sign stores are B2B retail stores or wholesale stores.
Usually these 선어 green sign stores deal with other restaurants and businesses. However some of these 선어 green sign stores do retail markets in the afternoon and some have their own aquarium with live fish and do retail businesses.
There are actually very good 선어 green sign stores that sell seafood at formidable prices.
활어 – Blue sign stores at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market
Probablly the stores that are most used by the consumers that visit 활어 – Blue sign stores at Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market are the 활어(hwal uh) stores. 활어 means alive fish in Korean and most of the 활어 stores are retail stores that sell sashimi(hwe) to the customers.
Most of these 활어 blue sign stores receive their fish from the wholesale market at dawn and store them in the aquarium and sell them to customers.
