Collection Café and Lounge

Walk into the first floor and café of Collection Café and Lounge’s three-story building and it’s hard to imagine that the building was originally a kindergarten. The bright corner space faces a large seating area for you to enjoy your coffee while you admire the collection of LPs arranged on the wall. In stark contrast, but keeping with the kitsch and vintage feeling, there’s a lounge hidden downstairs in the basement level where a stronger sense of playfulness pervades. A different type of artwork, reminiscent of a jungle theme, occupies each dark nook. On weekends, DJs come to spin music that flows out until 3’o clock in the morning (incredibly late for Apgujeong lounge standards), while professional baristas prepare exquisitely detailed cocktails. The second floor is reserved for smaller exhibitions. Collection’s CEO, Shin Yoon-ju, says they would like for the space to become “more than just a café” and plans to hold cultural events, concerts and pop-up stores for local designers.