Certain clothes just cannot be tossed into a washing machine and need to be dry cleaned. Likewise, wear clothes long enough and you’ll get a rip or lose a button. Maybe you want to trim your curtains to a more appropriate length. These and similar issues are easy and pretty cheap to fix if you visit the right store. But just because we put dry cleaning and mending into the same category, doesn’t mean these stores are combined. Sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren’t. It depends on what the store wants to do.

The term “dry cleaning” came into the Korean language phonetically; 드라이 크리닝. We can see the words on the right side of this sign.

Wander around enough smaller streets and you’ll eventually see 컴퓨터 크리닝 which is phonetically “computer cleaning”. This does not mean they clean computers, but does mean they use computer controlled equipment to dry clean your clothing. This term came around in the 1980’s as equipment which controlled dry cleaning equipment came into service and was meant to market their newer technology and better quality over the more traditional competition. These days most all dry cleaning uses equipment with chips and circuits so this phrase is going out. If you want to see the images and words on their window more clearly, click the picture to see a larger size of that section.

To repair or mend clothing is call 수선 (修繕, suseon) in Korean. If it is something simple like reattaching a button, and you have the button you want sewn on, they might do it right then and there. Here is a sign advertising a clothing repair store within a traditional market.

These stores are common to find on smaller streets. If you have trouble finding one, head to quieter roads where there are more people walking than driving. This store helps to show what it does by displaying a large number of rolls of thread on their rear wall.

If you go to a multiple story tall supermarket (hypermarket) you’ll find other stores there as well, sometimes with mending offered. Here is a sign for one located off to the side.