Every salesperson wants you to buy something. One scarf seller in Seoul has a very different pitch. Please don't.

He runs a small shop called Hanyangsa at Namdaemun Market, the oldest and biggest traditional market in South Korea. His scarves hang on an outdoor rack where shoppers can grab any six for 10,000 won. That is about $7.50.

What made him famous is the way he talks. Speaking in a warm country dialect, he calls his customers mom or sis. Then he tries to talk them out of buying. He tells them the scarves are not worth the trouble and that they will probably never wear them anyway.

Lines out the door

Clips of him have pulled in somewhere between one million and five million views each. In one he admits his scarves are cheap for a reason. In another he suggests a shopper can always use it as a bed for her dog if she hates it at home. When a shopper takes too long he teases that she is going to spend the whole day choosing one scarf.

His shop's social media account picked up more than 32,000 followers in just over a week after it launched on Oct. 25. The crowds got so huge that people lined up before opening time and blocked the market paths. He paused business for a short break over safety worries and to give his neighbors room to work.

Now he is back on the job. Instead of always opening at 10 a.m. he changes his hours from day to day so the lines stay manageable.

Seoul's other street stars

He is not the only Korean merchant enjoying a moment. A tall young man who sells fish-shaped bungeoppang pastries in nearby Gwangmyeong earned the nickname Bung Eun-woo. It mixes the pastry with the name of K-pop star Cha Eun-woo because fans think he is just as handsome.

One 78-year-old who has sold scarves at Namdaemun for 30 years said it is nice to see the market busy again after the tough pandemic years. He admitted the crowds make it hard for nearby shops to work. Still, he said, the scarf man is his neighbor so it is not easy to complain.