BUSAN — Busan Metropolitan City is converting its "100-Day Emergency Livelihood Measures," launched immediately after the mayor took office, from a one-off stimulus program into a long-term policy covering vacant storefronts, neighborhood commercial districts and support for small business owners' operations and recovery. Rather than simply lifting consumption temporarily, the city plans to build support systems tailored to the characteristics of each commercial district to strengthen the local economy's self-sustaining capacity.
According to the city on the 17th, the vacancy rate for general retail properties in Busan stood at 14.5% in the second quarter of this year, with 15.6% for mid- to large-sized retail properties and 8.6% for small retail properties. The vacancy rate for small retail properties in particular rose about 1.8-fold, from 4.8% in 2021 to 8.6% this year. That is the backdrop to breaking the vicious cycle in which commercial decline creates vacancies and vacancies in turn lead to weaker consumption — a task that has emerged as the core of the city's livelihood policy.
The city is setting up a task force dedicated to revitalizing commercial districts and will manage districts according to their stage of growth. Early-stage districts will receive support for organizing merchants and building their capabilities, while those with strong growth potential will be linked to branding efforts and central government competitive funding programs. For declining districts, the city will concentrate on vacant-storefront support, environmental improvements and the development of new content. Through the "Neighborhood Commercial District Renaissance," a campaign pledge by Mayor Jeon Jae-soo, the city will also identify five neighborhood commercial districts each year and support their organization and commercialization.
Efforts to fill vacant storefronts are also moving into full swing. Under the "10,000-Won Rent Vacant Storefront Refill Project," the city will use a 500 million won ($360,000) contribution from BNK Busan Bank to first support 50 vacant storefronts with rent and interior renovation costs. A separate vacant-storefront rent support program will provide tenants in declining districts up to 1 million won a month. The goal is to create new content and consumer demand, turning the areas into commercial districts where people linger.
The city is pursuing consumption measures in parallel. It will temporarily raise cashback on Dongbaekjeon, the local currency, to as much as 15%, and push forward energy vouchers for small merchants along with special low-interest loans at around 1% for small business owners and the self-employed. The city also plans to overhaul Dongbaekjeon's existing benefit structure into "Dongbaekjeon 3.0," applying incentives by district, target group and period to steer spending toward traditional markets and neighborhood commercial districts.
The city will also support small business owners in distress. Through mobile "hope counseling buses," it will reach out directly to residents and small business owners in need of bankruptcy, rehabilitation or debt restructuring proceedings, linking them to counseling, cost support and follow-up management.
What Jeon emphasizes is what comes after the 100 days. Rather than ending the emergency measures as a short-term prescription, the city says it will review changes on the ground throughout his term and carry the effort forward into policies for supporting small business owners and reviving commercial districts. "We will ease the burden on small business owners and the self-employed and inject vitality into local consumption to achieve a livelihood recovery that residents can feel," Jeon said.
