"Veggie Store" Gets Its Bachelor, Broadcaster, and Leading Lady

Nov 05, 2011

It’s confirmed: Ji Chang Wook will take the lead role in the drama series “Bachelor’s Vegetable Store,” which will air on cable (surprise surprise) on Channel A. The news was teased a while back after Yoon Shi Yoon dropped from the list of candidates, filling his schedule instead with the upcoming “Me Too, Flower,” and Ji was tapped to fill the slot.

Playing his love interest in her first leading role is Wang Ji Hye, who’s coming off a string of secondary roles in well-received dramas like “Protect the Boss” and “President.” Meanwhile, Ji Chang Wook will get rid of his lustrous warrior’s locks (sob) from “Warrior Baek Dong Soo” to portray the young hero here. Don’t get me wrong, he’s pretty any way you cut it (in this case, “it” being his hair), but it means for the time being we’ll have to say goodbye to this:

The drama is based on the true success story of a young man who turned a tiny (roughly 350 sq. ft) vegetable store into a nationwide franchise. That young CEO, Lee Young Seok, began the operation in 1998 and expanded to 33 stores. A book was published in 2003, and now the story takes to the screen.

I’m pretty satisfied with the casting, since both Ji Chang Wook and Wang Ji Hye are rising stars with comic talent as well as dramatic. And while Ji is actually a year younger than Yoon Shi Yoon, he strikes me has having a more mature vibe, and less of an obvious noona-dongseng gap with Wang, who’s two years older than him. (Not that noona-love is a bad thing. Nope, not at all.)

“Bachelor’s Vegetable Store” was initially slated to air on cable channel jTBC, but it’s hopped over to Channel A instead. It premieres on December 21.