A piece of Korean modern history passes — the Apgujeong branch of McDonald’s is closing its doors. The Apgujeong shop was Korea’s first Miccie Dee’s, opening ahead of the Seoul Olympics in March 1988.
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13 Comments
So what’s going in that space:
1. Starbucks; or
2. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf?
#1
LOL…no.
…a Lotteria.
LOL
I remember that grand opening. I don’t recall protests (there was a lot of struggle over the import of potatoes for the fries, I believe) but my strongest impression was how pricey McD’s was at that time (something like 6,000 won for a meal back when today’s 6,000-won Korean lunch cost 1,500 and $1 = 800 won) and how odd it was to see the Golden Arches treated as some kind of luxury experience.
Still went in the 90’s and same goes on now with other American restaurant franchises.
Hey, I ate there once! It was a bitterly cold night in the middle of winter a few years ago…about midnight smackdab in the middle of a 강추이 (gangchui) cold snap. We couldn’t get a cab to get over to Songpagu—it wasn’t because I was white, as they did slow down just enough to hear where we wanted to go and speed away! ;)—but we eventually had to call my wife’s brother-in-law to pick us up, and waited it out to the McDonald’s. I thought it was just another McDonald’s, but once inside, I realized we were dining in a historic landmark! Wasn’t there some kind of relief map of the globe on an inside wall there? That was kind of neat (if I’m recalling it correctly).
Slim: Sounds like you’re an Old Korea Hand(TM).
I remember saving up for a month so I could go there and buy fries shortly after it opened.
I’ve had periods of ROK residence in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, but am an ex-expat now. I planned to stay 8 years, but my lawyer got it down to five. ;-D
Does anyone recall why it took McD’s that long to open a store in Korea? Did restrictive foreign investment rules block Mc Donald’s from coming here? Hard to believe that McDonald’s just discovered Korea in 1988. What was Korea’s first western fast food chain?
“What was Korea’s first western fast food chain?”
I would guess KFC. I think they arrived two or three years before McDonald’s, maybe in ‘85 or ‘86. Lotteria arrived prior to that, but they came from Japan. Also, having had the misfortune of eating there a couple of times, I would be very hesitant to consider them a western fast food chain. (However, their IMF Burger - spam on a bun - was a chuckle!)
Wendy’s was here in Korea pretty early too. And that franchisee was absolutely not fit to run a Wendy’s, where the food is generally pretty good. The Korean Wendy’s were horrid. And they all went under in 1998.
Brendon and other interested posters - at http://www.wright.edu/~tdung/wendy_korea.htm there’s a great 1998 WSJ article on Wendy’s experience in Korea and its “undercapitalized” franchisee.
#11.
Interesting read. I think the location mentioned at the beginning of the article was right by the Westin Chosun Hotel. Looks like Wendy’s did get here around a year ahead of KFC.
When did TacoBell open [and close]? I seem to remember it was late 80s. By 1990, they had closed already, if memory serves…