For decades, Seoul Central Market — with its shabby shops and grungy street food — has been a gathering place for retirees seeking cheap meals, clothing and kitchenware.
These days, they’re increasingly competing for space with hipsters in heels and Birkenstocks who troll the chic restaurants and cafes that are sprouting between hole-in-the-wall rice shops and noodle joints.
Aspiring chefs and first-time business owners — some who gave up seeking jobs in South Korea’s sprawling family-run conglomerates like Samsung Electronics Co. — are driving up rents, and remaking the neighborhood into a battleground in a generational feud.
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