The Story of My Foreign Friend Getting Shocked at a Korean Convenience Store > K-Culture

A few days ago, my foreign friend visited Korea and we went to a convenience store together, and their reaction was honestly hilarious.

As soon as we walked in, they were like, "Wow... is this really a convenience store?" and they were so amazed. They said it was completely different from the convenience stores back in their country (the US). There’s so much variety, and the fact that they sell bento boxes, ramen, and even fried chicken really surprised them. Especially the fact that you can actually cook ramen inside the store shocked them, so they immediately picked a cup of ramen and tried it out (by the way, they chose a spicy one and ended up sweating a lot from the heat).

Then, when we were at the checkout, they were so surprised by the ready-to-eat section with kimbap and fried chicken, asking, “Are you sure all of this is available?” It felt like they were in a small restaurant, not a convenience store.

The next day, they came back by themselves and bought three kimbaps in a row, saying they’d never had something so good in a convenience store. I guess that’s the magic of Korean convenience stores.

Have any of you ever taken a foreign friend to a convenience store? How was their reaction?