• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.113-131
• /
• 1996

The purpose of this study is to identify the existence, personal characteristics and behavior of market-participants, and function of urban weekly markets in Taegu City through observation, interview and questionnaire survey. There are four weekly periodic markets such as Seongso(Monday), Chilgok(Wednesday), Siji(Thursday), and Chilgok(Friday) which have recently developed near the new apartment areas on the outskirts of Taegu. The major findings of this study can be summarized as follows: These markets originated from the agricultural cooperative's Friday markets, but were substantially established by mobile traders or merchants for the sake of their livelihood. Therefore, the existence of these markets is not explained by Stine's central place perspective but partially explained by Hay's economic locational and Bromley's socio-cultural perspective. Most traders are male, aged 30 to 40 years and have an educational level higher than high school. Most of them are living in Taegu and itinerantly visit more than two markets among the four markets by small truck. And most of them sell agricultural products and other food materials, except some who sell manufactured goods. Most consumers are housewives, aged 20 to 30 years and have an educational level higher than high school. Most of them are living within 1,000m and go there on foot. Most of them visit the markets around 3 to 5 p.m. on every market day. And they mostly buy vegetables, fruits, and fishes. Weekly markets provide employment opportunities for those who want to be merchants, and also contribute to the increase of farmers' income, because some traders(18.8%) are farmers who periodically visit markets to sell agricultural products. On the other hand, they function as a general food materials markets to neighboring residents. From these facts, both traders and consumers want weekly markets sustained. Therefore, these markets need to be protected by institutional assistance in spite of being informal markets.