Guri City Successfully Selected for 'Regional Commercial District Development Project' by Ministry of SMEs in 2026

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[Suwon Ilbo=Eom In-yong Reporter] Guri City announced on the 18th that Guri Traditional Market was finally selected in the local theme commercial district category of the '2026 Regional Commercial District Development Project' competition hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Venture Business, and will implement a project worth a total of 4 billion won over two years from 2026 to 2027.

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The local theme commercial district project under the Regional Commercial District Development Project develops content utilizing the region's unique resources such as regional cuisine, cultural heritage, and experiential activities to create specialized experience and consumption-focused commercial districts.

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With this selection, Guri City plans to invest a total of 4 billion won—2 billion won from national funds and 2 billion won from city funds—to develop a local theme commercial district centered on Guri Traditional Market that reflects regional characteristics, while strengthening commercial district competitiveness and revitalizing the local economy.

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This achievement is being evaluated as a result of Guri City, the Guri Commercial District Revitalization Foundation, and the Guri Traditional Market Merchants Association establishing a close public-private cooperation system to develop business plans and systematically prepare regional commercial district growth strategies.

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Going forward, the city plans to discover various content linking Guri City's historical, cultural, and tourism resources with commercial districts over the next two years, and comprehensively implement specialized product development and commercial district environment improvements to strengthen the competitiveness of traditional markets and reinforce self-sustaining foundations.

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In particular, beyond the local theme commercial district category, the city achieved significant results by selecting two locations in the promising alley commercial district category: Sintopyeong Food Street Alley Shops and Galmaae I&You Street Alley Shops, establishing the foundation for developing regional commercial districts encompassing both traditional markets and alley commercial districts.

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In the promising alley commercial district category, business expenses of a total of 1 billion won—500 million won from national funds and 500 million won from city funds—at 500 million won per district will be invested by the end of 2026.

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The city plans to enhance the self-sustainability and competitiveness of alley commercial districts by implementing specialized content discovery reflecting each district's conditions and characteristics, joint marketing, merchant organization capacity building, and commercial district environment improvements.

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Lee Young-hee, Director of Jobs and Economic Affairs, stated: "This selection for the competitive project will serve as an opportunity to inject new vitality into small business owners, traditional markets, and alley commercial districts facing difficulties due to economic downturn," and added: "We will continue to communicate and cooperate with the Guri Commercial District Revitalization Foundation, the Guri Traditional Market Merchants Association, and each alley-type shop merchants association to successfully establish differentiated commercial district content unique to Guri City."