[Weekender] How squishies and nostalgia revived Seoul’s old markets

The line outside a toy wholesaler in Seoul’s Dongdaemun Stationery and Toy Street on a recent weekend looked more like one outside a trendy cafe than a decades-old market.

Shoppers crowded around bins of squishies, comparing textures and squeezing them before making their choice.

Nearby, others tested clicking keycap toys and cracked the wax shells of stress balls, delighting in the crisp popping sound.

Most of the customers were not children.

They were adults in their 20s and 30s.

Just a few su ...