Read between the loaves: Classic literature sees new heyday at convenience stores, pop-ups

“Empty bun wrappers for sale,” read a post on the second-hand app Karrot on Thursday.

Each wrapper is printed to look like a volume from book publisher Minumsa's World Literature Series — the white-spined paperbacks that have been a Korean bookshelf staple for six decades — with a classical oil painting above a block of bold color on each cover.

On Aug. 21, convenience store chain GS25 released limited-edition buns wrapped in those covers.

Chekhov's "About Love" (1898), No. 461 in the collection, became a custard-filled mocha bun. Moon Chung-hee's poetry collection "I Wanted to Howl Fresh Like the Wolves" became a sesame mochi bun. Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" (1813) and Heo Yeon's "A Bad Boy is Standing" (2008) followed five days later. Prices ranged between 2,700 won and 3,700 won ($2 and $2.75) apiece.

They sold 350,000 units in a week, sparking a buying spree.

“I tried checking the bun's inventory on GS25’s mobile app, but all the locations were marked sold out,” one would-be buyer, Kim, said in front of a GS25 store in Chungmu-ro, Jung District, central Seoul. “I went to five different stores, but they were all gone.”

Kim is not alone. Social media posts allegedly revealing tips and tricks for securing the bun have gone viral — from what time to visit to where. Spoiler alert: You have to be at the door early in the morning, just before the store opens.

“We put it on the shelf, and then it's immediately gone,” said a GS Retail representative on Sept. 1. “It's close to a 100 percent sales rate, with 200,000 searches for the bun on our app during the first week.”

In fact, the bun has become so popular that GS Retail has allocated only one item per store nationwide, according to an insider.

“I woke up early and ran to a GS25 floating on the Han River at 7 a.m. on the day of the second release,” said Lee, an undergraduate student at Sogang University.

However, customers aren’t looking for the actual bun.

It's the cover and the accessory that comes with it that have hooked buyers.

Also tucked inside each package is one of 20 randomly selected bookmarks the size of a credit card, printed as miniature Minumsa covers with the faces in the paintings swapped for cartoon characters — 15 from the World Literature Series, such as “Romeo and Juliet” (1597) and “Les Misérables” (1862). The other five are from the publisher's modern Korean poetry line.

Customers have already rushed to Karrot, Korea’s popular secondhand market app, where popular bookmarks such as “Hamlet” (1623) or “Anna Karenina” (1878) — which come free with the bun — are selling for anywhere from 4,000 won to 10,000 won per piece. That’s triple the price of the actual buns.

The bun is a best seller, but are the books, too?

The craze over merch and buns is translating into actual numbers.

Sales of “A Bad Boy is Standing” rose 1,500 percent in the first week of the launch, according to online book retailer Yes24. Another book retailer, Kyobo Book Centre, told a similar tale — “A Bad Boy is Standing” has been sold out since the bun's launch, the bookseller’s marketing team said.

Notably, online sales of “About Love,” another title featured as a bun release, have jumped 223 percent, while “Pride and Prejudice,” already a book lover staple, has jumped 50 percent in the same period, according to Kyobo Book Centre.

The purchase demographic had also shifted. Readers in their teens and 20s accounted for 16.7 percent of purchases of the book series in July before the bun's release. The figure jumped 11.2 percentage points to 27.9 percent by the end of August, after the first week of the bun releases, according to Yes24.

The so-called text hip trend — which treats books and all things literary as an aesthetic — may have been slowly seeping into society, but the publisher's genius merch idea is what has fueled the real craze among younger people.

“In the past, books were viewed as something you should read to acquire knowledge — a tool for self-enrichment,” Jo Ah-ran, the marketing director at Minumsa said. “Recently, however, the role of books has started expanding as a channel for self-expression, where people use books to show their self-identity and lifestyle just like clothes or music."

When K-pop fandom culture turns the page 

Another sign of Minumsa’s popularity came at its August pop-up, where thousands waited to get inside. The scene resembled K-pop fandom, with fans accustomed to queues for pop-ups and album drops and the collection and trade of randomized merchandise such as photocards.

“It took me five trips to get inside the pop-up before I finally made it on its closing day,” said Kang Yoon-ju, the owner of Melly Cafe in Huam-dong, Yongsan District, which hosts a weekend book club. “The size of the crowd was so unexpected that even the organizers seemed overwhelmed."

Kang was lucky to get in, but most fans could not.

“The pop-up went insanely viral on Instagram Reels immediately after opening, and all the entry slots, including weekday mornings, were completely booked,” said Paek Seung-hyeon, a visitor who could not get inside the pop-up.

The pop-up sold journals and glass cleaners, keyboard clickers, and even phone cases — all featuring the design of the publisher’s book covers with cute characters swapped in. The event also had random mystery gacha machines where people could buy screen cleaners, miniature book cover keychains made out of felt and even DIY cross-stitch kits where users could create handmade cross-stitches to stick onto the covers of their copies of Minumsa books.

Plot twist: The publisher becomes the protagonist 

One surprise twist to the latest fad is that the publishing company has earned the spotlight — rather than individual books.

“For anyone who loves books, a title from Minumsa is treated as a basic item — something you are expected to have,” Melly Cafe book club host Kang said. “In the roughly 80 book club meetings I’ve hosted, the book has never been absent. Someone always brings a title from the series to read or discuss.”

Founded in 1966, the publishing house is one of Korea’s best-known publishers, most famous for its World Literature Series, which began in 1998 and released its 500th volume in June. The company withstood years of hardship that hit the paper book market as a whole, which has been dwindling due to surging online and short-form content that has kept young people away from the analog, old-fashioned medium.

However, the recent surge in popularity is not solely because of the brand's pre-existing standing. The publisher has also been launching an aggressive marketing campaign catered towards younger customers since 2018, despite the shrinking book market, when it launched a daily calendar with book quotes for every day of the year — one of its first pieces of merchandise developed as a standalone product, instead of a free add-on to a book purchase, as book-related merchandise used to be.

The company then launched a YouTube channel in 2019 focused on the fun behind-the-scenes stories of their books, along with a celebrity interview series that began last year with Gen Z stars such as Gaeul, a member of girl group IVE. Almost 40 percent of its subscribers are aged 25 to 34, according to the publisher.

Epilogue or a Prologue? 

Book novices and experts are split on the viral trend. On the one hand, book lovers welcome the revival of the published medium in whatever form it comes in, while on the other hand, some worry that the cutesy fad won't translate into the longevity of written culture.

“Cute merch really does boost the interest to pick up a book,” Paek said. “For books that seem too difficult to start, the characters made them feel more approachable — which is the most important factor for me. You keep looking at your merch and using it, which helps you funnel your interest in the actual book behind it."

Experts emphasize the need for a bigger picture.

"From an arts business management perspective, I can't call the explosive demand for [book-related] merch a bad thing, as it could serve as an invitation for young people to get interested in books,” Prof. Joo Hee-hyun, of culture and arts business management at Hongik University, said. “However, it is also a double-edged sword where young people are rushing to these events for the sole purpose of wanting to be seen a certain way — because they know holding up a book makes them seem sophisticated, instead of actually caring about the books."

What is more important is the next chapter.

“Publishers should use this opportunity to introduce their actual books — print out a QR code that readers can scan to learn more about the book, or print out a famous quote from the book on the merch,” Prof. Joo said. “The worst-case scenario is that books are taken more lightly after the trend gets flushed out. Reading should go beyond just a collection of random bookmarks; it should enrich your soul, not your vanity.”

BY LEE JI-WON [[email protected]]