Photo: CU convenience store. Credit: BGF Retail.
South Korea is the convenience store capital of the world, with 55k locations around the country - or about one for every 940 people. A pilot program in the Nam-gu District of Ulsan 울산 남구 is turning them into nodes of community engagement.
The idea is simple: if a shopkeeper believes that a customer is in financial distress, they can press a button on their electronic cash register to alert the local district office, who will dispatch a social worker to assist the customer. Over just ten months of the pilot program, more than ten families received welfare benefits for which they were eligible but did not know to apply for.
The key insight behind the program is that convenience stores - with more than 100 locations in Nam-gu - offer the best vantage point on people’s everyday habits. One woman in her 60s received assistance after a shopkeeper saw her coming to the store to purchase exactly one small snack every day for months. A social worker found that the woman had fallen into a severe depression and become unable to cook for herself after her husband passed away. Another customer in his 40s received assistance after a shopkeeper noticed that, rather than stopping by on his way back from work, he was coming in to buy soju in the middle of the day.
The convenience store chain CU 씨유 sponsored a program providing additional coupons usable at the store. With other local governments considering similar initiatives, the program could soon become national.
