K-Town and Capitalism

Koreatown bustles day by day with tourists, native New Yorkers and Koreans. They fill the block with their merry voices and the businesses with money from their wallets. It is an every way a paradigm for American capitalism.

My friend Melissa and I went on our first trip to Korea Way to ask pretty much any storefronts for an interview. Our results of this trip were pretty glum. Many restaurants’ workers said to come back another day when their managers were free. A bookstore’s employee said that we could call the manager over the phone for an interview. The only storefront that accepted our request gladly was Besfren Beauty. The manager was the person we so happened to first talk to and she was very excited about possibly getting the business interview on a website. Typical capitalists eh? If there’s a chance of profit, go for it.

The strangest part of that trip though was when we tried asking karaoke bars for an interview. Stage ¾ tolerated the interview and said to come back a different day of the week, but the rest were very hostile. A Wow Karaoke Bar employee thought we were there to sing our hearts out, but as soon as we told them we wanted to ask them some questions….ha. The employee seemed to fabricate some excuse that the manager is super busy and has no time for interviews. The conspiracy our professor had brought up about the businesses in K-Town being subsidized by the South Korean government started lurking in our minds. We then went to 5 Karaoke Bar and the worker there again completely shut us down. She looked very weary about us and asked Melissa and me how old we were. As soon as we said we were eighteen and nineteen years old, she told us we were probably too young for the manager’s taste. Melissa and I both looked at each other in disbelief when we walked out that door. We noticed too that the elevator took us up a flight when we wanted to go down…yet no one was at the elevator doors when they opened. On our way out the building, the security guard eyeballed us as if we were investigators out to get them. Perhaps we really were on the verge of opening a can of worms. Either way, we definitely were unable to interview any karaoke bars.

On our second venture, we decided to go to Besfren Beauty first since the manager Suzi Kim was so friendly and eager. This storefront actually was connected to Cafe & Ginseng. They opened up the cafe two years ago, but the beauty shop only opened five months ago. Confused, Melissa had told the manager that online it said they opened up in 2012. The manager cleared that up real quick though; the Flushing Queens location had opened up then. This business was in the midst of becoming a franchise.

Walking around Besfren Beauty we had noticed how much cheaper the face masks were compared to those at The Face Shop, another storefront on Korea Way. This is in fact, one of the reasons the manager wishes the tourists knew about Besfren Beauty. She believes if more people knew, there would be more loyal customers like the ones they already acquired. The place was considerably small too, with TV screens above the beauty products displaying models and K-Pop music videos. Suzi Kim explained that part of the reason customers are attracted the Besfren Beauty is because of the appeal of K-Pop and Korean dramas. These celebrities find importance in skin care and “they [tourists] wanna know why they [celebrities] like it.”

Suzi Kim’s life story here was also fascinating. She moved to New York from Korea a couple years ago. She was originally going to an arts school, but was always into beauty and skin care. Someone told her about the cafe and so she started off as the cashier of the storefront a year and a half ago. Now a manager of the extended store, she is an inspiring immigrant who is and will continue to be another example of a person achieving the American Dream.

The next place we visited was Mandoo Bar, a Korean restaurant that has been in K-Town since 2001. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to interview the manager but one of the workers Gin was able to answer some of our questions. Curious as to what made Mandoo Bar so special to last over fifteen years, Melissa and I looked at the menu for answers. Gin then told us that the place was an attraction because of its dumplings. In fact, Mandoo [Mandu] means dumplings in Korean. Surprised, I looked behind where we were sitting and watched a chef knead some dough in front of the window. He was right. Attention was drawn here because of the dumplings being cooked before your very eyes as you walked by the place.

Melissa and I also discovered that Mandoo Bar and Besfren Beauty workers had said similar things regarding types of customers. They both were attracting American tourists and Koreans. They, along with other businesses in this particular enclave, were benefitting from New York’s reputation. Yet, these businesses also had a fair amount of native New Yorkers stopping by during work breaks or free time. This is very true based on my own experiences with K-Town. Melissa and I, and many of our other friends, would go there to hang out in high school and to this day. Worker Gin states why this is so simply. “Well, there’s a lot of restaurants on this block. I don’t see many restaurants on just one block. So they just come to eat and it’s a lot cheaper compared to like fine dining.” Indeed, it is cheaper. Afterall, New Yorkers are capitalist consumers themselves.