Our journey to Dongdaemun...the search for Cetaphil
Devante was looking for Cetaphil and after some online research we discovered the basement of the Doota Fashion Mall in Dongdaemun hides a plethora of foreign health and beauty products. Let's take a look at what we were able to find!
Doota Fashion Mall is across the street from Dongdaemun Stadium.
Make your way to B2, the "Luxury Gallery" in the basement:
Once you've made it to B2, you will be able to find an assortment of products! Bengay, Vaseline, Polident, Band-Aid, Lamisil, Ex-lax...etc can all be found at Moota!
Look at the second shelf, there's the deodorant (I stocked up at Costco before I arrived). You can also buy deodorant in Itaewon and some markets around Myeong-dong as well (plus others I am sure). Look, there's Nivea, Dove, Old Spice, Lady Speed Stick, Gillette..etc can all be found at Moota!
For all your beauty needs...such as Clearasil, Darphin, Biotherm, all in Korea!
There it is...Cetaphil in Seoul, South Korea!
Trying to find Old Spice High Endurance deodorant? Here it is!
As for how these retailers found these products, who knows. Some theories include "they fell off the back of a truck"...or they were "smuggled" off the US Army bases stationed in Korea. Or they could be knock offs from China. Or they could be the real deal. That's for you to decide.
Once thing is for sure, you will be paying a hefty premium for these products. When there is a demand, price always increases. That's your economic lesson for the day (FYI: I failed an economics class in university--that's how credible my advice really is).
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Places to See
3 comments:
Lamisil? Isn't that a serious, anti-fungal drug for nail infections? I mean, I know Lamisil produces such a drug because I was on it for a while. That stuff is definitely not over-the-counter medicine. (If that is what it is.)
Nice to know about one more place to get this kind of product, though -- the other stuff, I mean.
Thanks for taking the time to get specs on your blog! We've only been here a few weeks now but we've been wondering where the famous places are that do stock these precious commodities!
I was just at Doota today looking for this shop/area, and it does not exist any more. Basement floor 2 is just shops now such as the North Face, Adidas, ETC. It seems that they have moved some of these shops to the 5th floor, which is the Accessory, Beauty, and Souvenir floor. Right after you get off the escalator, walk to the side opposite the jewelry toward Olive Young, and you will find a little shop selling Western goods such as Cetaphil and deodorant. Also about 2 meters away from that shop is a Western food stall selling American candies and such.
I personally prefer going to the Western grocery/H&B shop in Sinchon as it is much closer to my house, and easier to access. I also hate traveling to Itaewon, so the Sinchon shop is my recommendation for finding Cetaphil and American deodorant, which I just bought yesterday :D
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