Shinsegae

Shinsegae Inc.
Native name
주식회사 신세계
TypePublic
KRX: 004170
IndustryRetail
PredecessorMitsukoshi Keijō (Gyeongseong) Store
Founded9 December 1955; 67 years ago (1955-12-09)
FounderOriginal store acquired by Lee Byung-chul
Headquarters63 Sogong-ro, Jung District, Seoul, South Korea
Area served
South Korea
Key people
Lee Myung-hee (Chairwoman)
Chung Yong-jin (Vice Chairman)
Cha Jeong-ho (CEO)
OwnerEstate of Lee Myung-hee (28.56%)
National Pension Service (12.16%)
ParentSamsung (1955–1997)
Independent (1997–present)
SubsidiariesE-mart
Websiteen.shinsegae.cn

Shinsegae (Korean: 신세계; Hanja: 新世界; lit. new world, KRX: 004170) is a South Korean department store franchise, along with several other businesses, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The firm is an affiliate of Shinsegae Group, South Korea's leading retail chaebol, and one of the big three department store firms in Korea, along with Lotte and Hyundai Department Store. Its flagship store in Centum City, Busan, was the world's largest department store at 3,163,000 square feet (293,900 m2), surpassing Macy's flagship Herald Square in New York City in 2009.[1][2]

Shinsegae was the first credit card company in South Korea. They issued their own charge card from 1967 to 2000. In 2000, Shinsegae sold their credit card division to KorAm Bank, which was later acquired by Citibank Korea.

Shinsegae was originally part of the Samsung Group, from which it separated in the 1990s along with CJ Group (Food/Chemicals/Entertainment), Saehan Group (Electronic Media/Apparel/Textiles), and the Hansol Group (Paper/Telecom). Chairwoman Lee Myung-hee is the fifth daughter of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul and the aunt of Lee Jae-yong, the executive chairman of Samsung Electronics.

The group owns the brands Shinsegae and E-Mart, and is in direct competition with Lotte Shopping and Hyundai Department Store Group. Currently, it is the largest retailer in South Korea.[3]

History

The main branch of Shinsegae is the oldest department store in Korea. It was opened in 1930 as the Gyeongseong branch of Mitsukoshi, a Japanese department store franchise; Korea was occupied by the Japanese Empire at the time. The store was acquired in 1945 by the late founder of Samsung group, Lee Byung-chull, and renamed Donghwa Department Store. After the Korean War (1950–1953) began, it was used for several years as a post exchange by the American army. In 1963, the store was given the name Shinsegae.[4] The old building is currently used as a luxury shopping venue.

In 2021, Shinsegae bought the then-named SK Wyverns of the KBO League from SK and renamed then the SSG Landers. They bought them for 135.2 billion won, (100 billion for the team itself, and 35.2 billion for the team's facilities and properties) equivalent to $112.8 million.

Stores

Main store in Seoul
Main store in Seoul in the Japanese Colonial period, when it was a branch of Tokyo's Mitsukoshi
Busan branch, world's largest department store
Gwangju branch
  • Main Store (Main Building & New Building) (본점 본관, 신관) in Jung-gu, Seoul
  • Gangnam Store (Main Building & New Building) (강남점 본관, 신관) in Seocho-gu, Seoul the express bus terminal, flagship store turn-over 1billion USD per year top sales store of Shinsegae
  • Yeongdeungpo Store (Building A, Building B & Luxury Hall) (영등포점 A관, B관, 명품관) in Times Square, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
  • Gyeonggi Store (경기점) in Suji-gu, Yong-in, Gyeonggi-do (Changed its name from Jukjeon Store on October 26, 2009)[5]
  • Shinsegae Centum City (신세계 센텀시티) in Centum City, Hae-undae-gu, Busan (the world's largest department store)[6][7][8]
  • Masan Store (마산점) in Masan-Happo-gu, Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do
  • Gwangju Shinsegae (광주신세계, KRX: 037710) in Seo-gu, Gwangju
  • Arario Chungcheong Store (충청점) in Dongnam-gu, Cheon-an,[9][10] Chungcheongnam-do (Through a management alliance with Arario, owner of Yawoori Department Store, Shinsegae opened this branch in Cheon-an in the building once used as Galleria Cheon-an Store and Yawoori Department Store)
  • Uijeongbu Store (의정부점) in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do
  • Hanam Store (하남점) in Hanam, Gyeonggi-do (Located in Starfield Hanam shopping mall, a joint-venture between Shinsegae and Taubman Centers, which opened on 9 September 2016. Besides Shinsegae, it also features Megabox cinema, Yeongpoong bookstore, Zara, H&M, Hansem, Electromart, emart traders (warehouse style), indoor water park and Eatopia food court as anchor tenant. Many luxury brand like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci and Genesis and BMW CARS as well as Ioniq EV are in the shopping mall.)
  • Gimhae Store (김해점) in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do
  • Daegu Shinsegae (대구신세계) in Dongdaegu Station, Daegu[11]

Shinsegae also has a small branch in Incheon International Airport, and a supermarket in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Shinsegae launched the Shinsegae Style Market, a smaller shopping mall mainly aimed at young customers, in 2010. Despite its name, the mall is managed by Shinsegae's subsidiary E-Mart.

Planned

  • A fashion mall for youngsters in the building of Mesa, a defunct shopping mall right beside Shinsegae's main store in Jung-gu, Seoul
  • Shopping mall at Samsung Town, NW of Seoul new town is under construction

Defunct

  • Daegu Store (대구점) in Jung-gu, Daegu (opened in 1973 and closed in December 1976)
  • Shinsegae Store Banpo (신세계 스토어 반포) in Gangnam-gu, Seoul (opened in 1974 and closed several years later)
  • Gyeongju Bomun Store (경주보문점) in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do (opened in 1979 and closed several years later)
  • Dongbang Plaza Store (동방플라자) in Jung-gu, Seoul (opened in 1982 and closed in 1996)
  • Cheonho Store (천호점) in Gangdong-gu, Seoul (closed in 2000, converted into E-Mart Cheonho Store)
  • Mia Store (미아점) in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul (closed in 2007, converted into E-Mart Mia Store)[12]

Discount store

E-Mart (이마트) is a subsidiary of Shinsegae and a large discount store chain founded in South Korea, having stores in China, Korea and Mongolia. Domestically, E-Mart is the biggest discount store chain followed by Home Plus, and Lotte Mart.

In late May 2006, Shinsegae revealed plans to buy all 16 of the Wal-Mart stores in Korea.[13] All of the country's Wal-Mart outlets were re-branded as E-Mart in October 2006. Wal-Mart exited the Korean market soon after.

Shinsegae spun off its E-Mart department into a separate corporation (KRX: 139480) in 2012. The shopping mall was acquired by E-Mart in January 2014.

Online mall

SSG Food Market, Gangnam

SSG (usually read as "쓱") is an online shopping mall operated by Shinsegae in 2014. Through this shopping mall, products from Shinsegae affiliates (Shinsegae Department Store, E-Mart, Casamia, CHICOR, etc.) can be shopped online.[14]

Subsidiaries

Controversies

Shinsegae banned commercial images of actress Go Hyun-jung (고현정) from their department stores following her divorce from vice chairman and former CEO Chung Yong-jin.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Guinness World Records: Department Store".
  2. ^ Farfan, Barbara (8 December 2018). "What Is the World's Largest Retail Store?". Small Business. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  3. ^ "E-Land in talk to sell stores to Tesco South Korea unit". Reuters. 2008-05-14.
  4. ^ "Elegance rules in Shinsegae's new temple of earthly joy". Korea JoongAng Daily.
  5. ^ Jin, seong gi. "Shinsegae Jukjeon Branch, renamed Gyeonggi Branch". n.news.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  6. ^ "New Largest Department Store". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
  7. ^ "Busan Mall Gets Guinness Listing as World's Biggest". The Chosun Ilbo. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
  8. ^ "Shinsegae 百 Yeongdeungpo Branch Reopens "Western Commercial District No. 1". 아이뉴스24 (in Korean). 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  9. ^ Bark, chang ook (2010-01-27). "SSG, Entering Cheonan..Business partnership with Yauri Department Store". 머니투데이 (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  10. ^ Lim, jeong hwan (2010-01-29). "Cheonan Yauri百 → Shinsegae百 Change Company Name". 대전일보 (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  11. ^ Lee, chun su. "Convergence of commercial and cultural functions in transportation transfer...Shinsegae to sell 30% floor area". n.news.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  12. ^ Bark, sin yoeng. "Shinsegae Department Store's Mia Branch converted to E-Mart". n.news.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
  13. ^ "Shinsegae to Take Over Wal-Mart Korea". Archived from the original on 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  14. ^ "SSG.COM 소개, SSG.COM". ssg.com. official (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  15. ^ Lee, Tae-hee (January 19, 2022). "Gmarket Global is new name for eBay Korea". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  16. ^ allKpop.com Go Hyun-jung still blacklisted from Shinsegae March 2010

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shinsegae.