Beautiful Store

Beautiful Store

Beautifulstore 아름다운가게
File:BeautifulStore Logo.jpg
Founder	People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
Type	Social Enterprise, Non-Profit Organization
Focus	Be a NGO which is equipped public interests and professionalism
Location	Seoul, South Korea
Area served	South Korea, third world
Method	Making together, the world of sharing and circulation
Key people	Myeunghee Hong
Website	www.beautifulstore.org

Beautiful Store (Korean: 아름다운가게) is a nonprofit organization and social enterprise, launched in 2002 in Korea following the model of the Oxfam shop. Beautiful Store uses it`s proceeds to aid developing countries and socially disadvantaged people. Beautiful store is a lead social enterprise in South Korea. Beautiful Store are not only the first registered social enterprise but also the pioneer which opens up new markets inside and outside Korea.

Beautiful Store`s mission , Vision and Goal

The Beautiful Store dreamed making the world more improved using recyclable donations. So Beautiful Store want to contribute to our society becoming environmentally friendly, and supporting public beneficial activities which is supporting a neglected class of people in the world.

Mission

Make a beautiful world of sharing and circulation where everyone participaties.

Vision

A NGO that serves public benefit and is equipped with professionalism

• public benefit

As a non-profit organization, Beautiful Store would like to keep purity, value-oriented activities, and public interest.

• professionalism

The Beautiful Store and its members pursue world-class public interest and professionalism

• Efficiency & Effectiveness

Beautiful Store seek greater efficiency and ettectiveness than a private company when creating values of public interest.

Beautiful Store`s determine Goals

The Beautiful Store has determined goals as

• Beautiful Store promote environmental awareness through recycling activities.
• Beautiful Store play an important role as a Mother NGO supporting community charity activities and strengthens local grass root projects.
• Beautiful Store try to give more chances to the marginalized with hiring the homeless, ex-convicts, and vulnerable women.
• Beautiful Store believe in and support Fair Trade in Korea.
• Beautiful Store support new social enterprises working for the environment and charitable activities.

Beautiful Store`s work

Beautiful Store collect the donations which are old or worn-out. And Beautiful Store sales those donations in their stores. Like this way Beautiful Store archive recycling the secondhand goods. This material for recycling is given over to the social improvement movement to using its own resources. Beautiful Store plays a unique role in that it is the first attempted social improvement movement in South Korea using recyclable materials to fund its operation. Beautiful Store conduct the larger circulation and distribution of resources through the activities; understanding each other and share about the concentration of wealth and the gap between the rich and the poor.

From the beginning of Beautiful Store, Beautiful Store have accepted donations which is used items such as clothing, books, bags, shoes, kitchenware, and appliances. Volunteers of Beautiful Store repair items what need to be made usable and then they are distributed to the other stores. In the store, both the volunteers and the customers are called 'angels'. Beautiful Store encourages people to helping their community through their supportive participation. These voluntary interactive activities help to realize a core value of Beautiful Store, which is the connecting of people through the re-use of goods.

• Charity Shop for Recycling

Being at the center of community-oriented environmentally friendly movement, Beautiful Store converts donated products to monetary donation and is operating more than 100 stores across the nation.

• Growing a New Flea Market Culture

Beautiful Store is operating regular or special flea markets in order to promote the culture of recycling, donation, and sharing. Instead of charging fees for the shop, Beautiful Store collects part of the sales profits as donation in an effort to help the neighbor who suffers hardships and to raise the awareness of environmentally friendly practices on a daily basis.

• Fair Trade

Beautiful Store helps small businesses in third world under-developed countries by importing their products for fair prices so that they can achieve financial self-reliance. With the profit generated in this process, Beautiful Store take the initiative to facilitate the cultural movement of ethical consumption that is to support our neighbor who suffers from hardships.

Another Business of Beautiful Store

Apart from the Beautiful Store`s repair and sale of donations, Beautiful Store conduct further more operations; they hold many events with government backing, such as a Beautiful Saturday, a Beautiful apartment, the Beautiful sharing schools. There is also a mobile shop which is used to promote the campaign of spreading the sharing and re-using culture. Also, the Beautiful Store holds the Beautiful sharing marketplaces once a month with the government of Seoul, as well as doing profit-making share business and alternative trade for charity and public profit. The head office is at Anguk-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Introduction of sharing project

JPG Introduction of sharing project

Introduction of sharing project - The 5 principle

Introduction of sharing project - Standard process

Introduction of sharing project - Standard process2

JPG Introduction of sharing project

Introduction of sharing project - The enterprise of Beautiful Store by subjects

Introduction of sharing project - The enterprise of Beautiful Store by subjects2

History

Once Oxfam had succeeded, the founder of Beautiful Store decided to start recycling shop project on the name 'Beautiful Store'. It adopted Oxfam`s model, which connects the people through the re-use of goods. On October 17, 2002, Beautiful Store became a nonprofit organization that operating independently under the Beautiful Foundation. Furthermore, on June 9 2008, it became a completely independent nonprofit corporation, 'Foundation Beautiful Store' which is overseen by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs.

Before the Beautiful Store was founded, the Beautiful Foundation had started to sell things in front of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy office. Selling the goods, in the so-called concept of the "thrift market", was a kind of social improvement movement that lawyer Park Wonsun and activists began in May 2001. The event which holds twice a month became very popular and well-attended, and prompted Mido apartment residents in Gangnam-gu, Seoul is actively participated by opening a 'Beautiful Day' once a month. Thanks to the citizens' great appeal, including many activists and lawyer Park visited the headquarters of The Salvation Army USA, in the beginning of 2002 and became committed to the environmental movement and the mechanisms of citizen participation to create an outlet of the official thrift market. On 9 October 2002, lawyer Park Wonsun opened the first Beautiful Store.

The first shop opened and the Beautiful Store rechecked for beautiful trucks and handling donated goods, and the introduction of fair trade approached in order to receive a variety of goods donated by the citizens. Beautiful truck took part of a bridge which was a role of exporting the collected donations directly to the store, and now it is donated by the support and participation of many companies. Beautiful Store thought the fair trade was giving back profits, importing goods from the developing countries by fair trade. From part of the opening ceremony, artists and entertainers, business leader, line-line.

Beautiful Store, Seoul branch

Inside Beautiful Store, donated clothing shown for sale

Beautiful Store, rails of clothing offered for sale

Beautiful Store, ornaments and household goods are displayed

Beautiful Store, books and CD's shown, for sale

Everything is donated to the Beautiful Store. The first store operates from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. The following year, January 18, the Samseongyo store opened near Hansung Univ. Station. Beautiful Store consists solely of volunteers, except for the secretary (manager) of the operation. When Samseongyo's store opened, a brown bamboo pencil case, donated by President Roh before becoming president, was auctioned and raised 100 million won. President Roh and his wife also donated pottery to the store.

Beautiful Store start fair trade

From the start of Beautiful Store, they participated in fair trade with developing countries. At the first onset, they do an official announcement of their fair trade on 18 April 2003. This project, giving all profits to Third World countries, was adopted from Germany and Japan's international welfare activities. For this project, Beautiful Store dispatched some of its executives to Japan. And they started the finding way to tradition of importing handicrafts and coffee from Indonesia, Nepal and Peru.

Increase Beautiful Store`s branch

On 18 April 2003, 'Dongnimmun branch’ was opened. It is the third branch of Beautiful Store. This store lead to the other company's regular supporting and participating, through Korea Microsoft Corporation are paying rent fees for Beautiful Store. They also helped with exhibiting and selling the handicrafts of foreign students in Korea. On August, 2003, 'Ansan Sangnoksoo branch' opened, and it is the first Beautiful Store`s branch in Gyeonggi-do. Gyeonggi-do officially supported 18 hundred million won. The another first store that operates outside the capital is Gwangju branch, and it is founded by donated the place from the Big-mart at Gwang-ju.

Ttukseom Flea Market

The Ttukseom flea market, which is held by Seoul Metropolitan Government and run by Beautiful Store. This branch is opened on 27 March 2004. This branch was originally launched in 2003, as the 'Greatest Flea Market'. Then in 2004 it became established in Ttukseom in the riverside park around the Han River. This is run on a model of a share marketplace, and is open every Saturday from 10am to 4pm. If somebody has a donation under 80 won, they could participate in this share marketplace as part of a group. The fee for watching or entering is one donation from an individual's home. There are restrictions on what can be sold in the flea market, for example, new products, foodstuffs, animals and plants are banned. All sellers can set their own prices and are required to give back 10% of any profits made in donation. Donations can either be given for the distribution of lunch boxes for needy children in their school holidays, or they can be given for the provision of books for underprivileged children.

A sharing marketplace has continued to be held at Ttukseom and has a different theme each time. For example in May, profits from the marketplace are used for the children of developing countries. The groups that participate are expected to donate at least 10% of their profit for malnourished children and disabled persons. The Beautiful Store extended the scale of their stores to other regions. On 23 April 2004, the first Beautiful Store in Daegu was opened. This was the second Beautiful Store outside the capital and the 21st store in Korea. After 6 days, the Busan store was opened, increasing the speed of opening Beautiful Stores.

Further reading

• The future of revived, Thinking garden, 2013, ISBN 6000605919 {{citation}}: |first= missing |last= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link).

External links

• Financial independence, public trust key, Korean Herald, 2012-11-09
• Commerce that cares at Beautiful Store, Korean Herald, 2012-11-09
• Beautiful Store marks 10 years, Korea JoongAng Daily, 2012-10-20
• Treasure hunting at flea markets, Korean Herald, 2012-09-21
• Flea market attracts a record-breaking crowd, Korea JoongAng Daily, 2008-10-13