Hongdae isn’t just known for its cafés.
If you love drawing, love stationery, or love fragrance, you can put together a shopping course here that’ll make half a day disappear before you know it.
This time, I’m introducing a Hongdae route that moves through an art supply shop, a stationery shop, a café, and finally a scent shop.
1. Filling the Urge to Create at Homi Art
If you’re in Hongdae, the first stop should be Homi Art.
It’s the go-to art supply shop that’s stood in front of Hongdae for over 50 years, familiar not just to art students but to anyone who paints or draws as a hobby. You can find a huge range of domestic and international art materials all in one place — paints, brushes, paper, canvas, and even professional-grade tools, in real variety.
As the representative art shop in front of Hongik University, known for its art programs, it’s still a spot that many artists visit today.
There’s real enjoyment just in browsing the colorful rows of colored pencils, paints, pretty sketchbooks, and fountain pens — even if you don’t do art yourself, a walk through here is a treat for the eyes.
These days, it seems like a lot of foreign visitors stop by too.
2. Shopping for Stationery and Small Goods at Object
Next, I moved on to Object, a stationery and lifestyle-goods shop with a distinct sensibility.
The shop is packed with charming items — notebooks, stickers, postcards, keyrings, and all kinds of everyday goods.
It regularly features goods from Korean independent artists and seasonal pop-ups, so there’s always something new to find. If you love stationery, you’ll lose track of time browsing here. It’s also a great place to look for small gifts or travel souvenirs.
3. Taking a Break at a Café
After all that browsing, my legs started to ache and I got thirsty — if you’re craving a cup of coffee at this point, I’d recommend either Malic or Hopp.
Both are places I’ve featured before, and both have the kind of atmosphere that’s good for sitting quietly with a coffee while looking through the stationery or books you just bought.
They’re a perfect spot to step away from Hongdae’s busy streets for a bit and enjoy some downtime.
4. Picking Up a Scent at Granhand
The last stop is Granhand.
Granhand is a brand where you can test and choose from a range of fragrance products in person — perfumes, hand creams, diffusers, and more.
Since scent alone can change the mood of your whole day, there’s real enjoyment in slowly smelling your way through the different options and finding the one that suits you. It’s also a spot people are consistently happy with as a gift, which makes it a fitting final stop for this course.
Personally, I like their Marine Orchid hand cream, which has a cool, refreshing feel — the subtle scent lingers for a long time, and it seems to be a popular pick with a lot of people.
The Hongdae Sensory Shopping Course
Homi Art → Object → Café (Malic or Hopp) → Granhand
A course that works whether you love drawing, love stationery, or love fragrance. Add in a relaxed cup of coffee, and the day feels even richer. It’s a good route for walking slowly through Hongdae and picking up things that suit your taste — even if you don’t follow it exactly as laid out, it’s worth visiting these shops at least once.
Practical Info
Homi Art Supplies
1F–2F, Seogyo Plaza, 20 Hongik-ro 3-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Hours: 09:00–21:00 (Weekends & holidays 10:00–20:00)
Object Seogyo
13 Wausan-ro 35-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Hours: Daily 11:00–21:00, open year-round
Malic Coffee
Basement level, 20 Wausan-ro 29-bagil, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Weekdays 9:00–21:00 / Weekends 12:00–21:00 (Last order 20:20)
Hopp
B1–1F, 1 Wausan-ro 37-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Hours: Daily 10:00–21:00
Granhand Mapo
9 Wausan-ro 37-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Hours: Daily 13:00–22:00
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