Shelves are stocked with hundreds of thousands of English-language books at Tongbang Books' warehouse, Nov. 1. Courtesy of Tongbang Books

Entering the basement warehouse of Tongbang Books feels like quite the adventure. The multiroom, multilayer labyrinth is crammed floor to ceiling with shelves holding about half a million books, all of which are in English.

Following the surprise popularity of its last open house event in June, the book importer-distributor-retailer decided to open its doors to the public again in time for the start of the holiday shopping season.

The family-owned business has been holding annual open houses for years. And while sales have been decreasing in line with overall social trends away from reading print books, they got a surprise at the last such event. Whereas the book shoppers had mainly been Koreans shopping for their children in the past, this time foreign customers made up a solid one-third of the crowd.

"Well over a third of all sales were to foreign customers — really, they saved the day," said Hahm Ki-hyun (who also goes by Katch), senior director of operations. "What's interesting is that foreign customers drove an unprecedented surge in sales of general fiction/nonfiction and young adult, which usually doesn't sell much."

He added that because they were buying the more expensive adult-level books, sales to foreign customers were likely proportionally even higher, around half the net profits for the day.

Foreign and Korean shoppers browse through some of the half a million books at Tongbang Books' Seongsu-dong warehouse, June 22, during the last open house event. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Encouraged by these signs, Hahm said they are working to make this open house sale more foreign-friendly than the last.

The stairs leading to the loft level display safety warning signs in Korean, June 22, during Tongbang Books' previous open house. An official of the book importer-distributor-retailer mentioned that signs will be bilingual in Korean and English for the next one, coming this weekend. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

He also announced revisions to Tongbang's English-language website, dbbooks.co.kr, which will be run entirely in English, and will also accept foreign credit cards for online purchases. Overseas orders are also possible now.

They also still operate tongbangbooks.com, which also sells English-language books with a stronger focus on children and is geared more toward domestic Korean customers.

For the open house, books will be priced based on the company's website prices, which are price-matched against competitors' websites to be the lowest in the country, and further discounted 5 percent to 20 percent for total savings of 25 percent to 80 percent off the retail prices. Bargain bins, including hundreds of samples, overstock and slightly damaged books, will be offered starting at 1,000 won. Various gifts will be provided based on the purchase amount.

Tongbang's book collection covers all ages, ranging from various types of books for young children to young adult literature and fiction and nonfiction for adults. It is also a good place to shop for Korean literature published in English translation.

Hahm emphasized that this is a side of their business they take seriously, saying "dbBOOKS has long since recognized the potential of Korean literature — in fact, we've secured the rights to the term 'K-lit' as a legally registered trademark."

"In just the past couple years, K-lit has surged in global popularity, on par with K-pop, K-dramas and other forms of 'K' art. The Nobel Prize not only legitimizes that trend but assures that it will grow even hotter," he said.

He admitted that he was caught by surprise when it was announced last month that the Nobel Prize in literature this year was going to Han Kang, the first such win for a Korean, as well as for an Asian woman. It led to a busy night at the office, to say the least.

"The prize came as a surprise to everyone, even within the industry," he said. "Though after just a few weeks, it already feels preordained — Korea has always cherished its literary tradition, so of course the world would eventually come around!"

When the announcement came, he said they sold out their entire stock of Han's books within an hour.

"The night of the announcement, our wholesale team fielded calls at home from buyers across the country, including Kyobo and all the major booksellers, looking to secure copies to be sold the next morning," he said. "At the same time, our purchasing team contacted the publishers in the U.S. and U.K. to order restocks, but they were already sold out on the global level as well. Never seen anything like it with previous Nobel Prize winners."

He added that the English translations of Han's books, including "The Vegetarian" as well as "Greek Lessons," will be available for the open house — at least for those who show up early. "Fortunately, the publishers went into overdrive to reprint stock, which are now steadily pouring in, so the market is beginning to stabilize," he said.

Han Kang's books, including "The Vegetarian" and "Greek Lessons," are stocked on the shelves at Tongbang Books' warehouse, Nov. 1. Courtesy of Tongbang Books

As far as other recommendations for Korean literature, he pointed to two ongoing trends — "healing fiction" and cookbooks by celebrity chefs.

"The latest thing in K-lit is healing fiction, an immensely popular local subgenre that tells human stories of loss, followed by redemption and reinvention, often through a mystical venue of some sort that symbolizes the power of communication and community," he said.

Titles including Jungeun Yun's "Marigold Mind Laundry," Kim Ryeo-ryeong's "The Trunk" and Rhee Kun Hoo's "If You Live to 100, You Might as Well Be Happy" are on the shelves at Tongbang Books' warehouse, Nov. 1. Courtesy of Tongbang Books

This genre includes titles such as "Marigold Mind Laundry" by Yun Jungeon, "The Healing Season of Pottery" by Yeon Somin and "Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop" by Hwang Bo-reum.

He also named some of the cookbooks that are selling like hotcakes, including "Jang" by Michelin-starred chef Mingoo Kang, "Korean American" by New York Times food writer and YouTube sensation Eric Kim and "Smoke and Pickles" by Edward Lee, restaurateur and runner-up on Netflix hit cooking competition program "Culinary Class Wars."

A shelf is loaded with copies of "Pachinko" by Min Jin Lee at Tongbang Books' warehouse, Nov. 1. Courtesy of Tongbang Books

There are many more literary treasures waiting to be found by readers seeking more English-language books.

Additionally, Dice & Comics Cafe's Joey Croner will be at the warehouse selling comic books from his store.

The open house runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The warehouse is in the basement of the SK Techno Building, a short walk from exit 5 of Ttukseom Station on Seoul Metro Line 2. Free parking is available. For safety and hygiene reasons, pets, food, strollers and speed boards are not permitted. Customers can request delivery on-site for a payment of 5,000 won. Visit dbbooks.com for information in English, and tongbangbooks.com for Korean.