Gyeonggi Province to Foster and Organize 150 Alleyway Commercial Districts This Year

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province is implementing the '2021 Alleyway Commercial Community Support Project' to organize and foster 150 commercial communities in order to revitalize alleyway commercial districts weakened by COVID-19 this year, stepping up efforts to strengthen the self-sufficiency of merchants.

The 'Alleyway Commercial Community Activation Support Project' is a project that organizes small merchants in alleyway commercial districts who have been excluded from support due to the absence of merchant associations into a single community, enhancing their capacity to diagnose and solve their own pressing issues.

This initiative will conduct an open call in two sectors: 'Alleyway Commercial Organization' and 'Alleyway Commercial Growth Support.'

'Alleyway Commercial Organization' is a sector that brings together 30 individual small business storefronts into one and supports commercial analysis and consulting to transform the alleyway commercial district into a 'community.'

This year, 50 locations will be selected and approximately 21.5 million won will be provided per commercial district.

'Alleyway Commercial Growth Support' is a sector that supports small-scale projects such as management education, on-site training, and common facility improvements for communities organized in the first phase, enabling them to grow as leading agents of regional commercial development.

This year, the plan is to select 100 out of 102 commercial districts organized in 2020 and 50 districts organized in 2019 that have not yet received support, providing 11 million won per commercial district.

Alleyway commercial communities wishing to participate in the project can apply by visiting or by mail to one of the five regional centers of the Gyeonggi Urban Commerce and Commercial Zone Promotion Agency by April 15.

The province will also implement the '2021 Alleyway Commercial Merchant Association and Federation Manager Support Project,' which provides dedicated managers to enhance the self-sufficiency of alleyway commercial districts.

The support targets are alleyway commercial merchant associations and small business federation branches/chapters within the province. This year, the plan is to provide support to a total of 58 organizations, including 25 for 'new support' and 33 for 'extended support.' Merchant associations and federations selected as support targets will receive funding for manager operational labor costs.

Alleyway commercial managers will take on roles including resident-participatory project planning, support for various open call projects, and community administrative tasks.

Merchant associations and federations wishing to receive manager support can apply through their respective municipal and county governments by March 25 by completing application forms.

Jo Chang-seok, Director of the Small Business Division at Gyeonggi Province, said, "We will seamlessly pursue various projects so that organized alleyway commercial communities can overcome the COVID-19 crisis and grow systematically, enabling stable operations."

For detailed information on the Alleyway Commercial Community Support Project, contact the Gyeonggi Urban Commerce and Commercial Zone Promotion Agency Comprehensive Counseling Call Center (1600-8001). For inquiries regarding the Manager Support Project, contact the Gyeonggi Urban Commerce and Commercial Zone Promotion Agency Northeast Center (031-515-8667).