| Shinsegae | |
|---|---|
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 신세계 |
| Hanja | 新世界 |
| Revised Romanization | Sinsegye |
| McCune–Reischauer | Sinsegye |
Shinsegae (Korean: 신세계) is a South Korean department store franchise, along with several other businesses, headquartering in Seoul, South Korea. The name of Shinsegae literally means "New World" in Korean. Its flagship store in Centum City, Busan, is the world's largest department store, surpassing the Macy's department store in New York City in 2009.[1]
Shinsegae was originally part of Samsung Group, separated in the 1990s from the Samsung Group along with CJ Group (Food/Chemicals/Entertainment), Saehan Group (Electronic Media/Apparel/Textiles), and the Hansol Group (Paper/Telecom). It 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.[2]
Shinsegae is also famous for its long history. The main branch of Shinsegae is the oldest department store in Korea. The main building of the store was opened in 1930 as the Gyeongseong branch of Mitsukoshi, a Japanese department store franchise. 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.[3] The old building is currently used as a luxury hall.
Contents |
E-Mart (이마트) is a subsidiary of Shinsegae and a large discount store chain founded in South Korea, having numerous stores in China and Korea. Domestically, E-Mart is the biggest discount store chain followed by Home Plus, owned by Samsung and Tesco, and Lotte Mart.
In late May 2006, Shinsegae revealed plans to buy all 16 of the Wal-Mart Stores in Korea.[6] All of the country's Wal-Mart outlets were re-branded as E-Mart on October, 2006 and Wal-Mart exited the Korean market soon after.
Shinsegae has banned any commercial images of former daughter-in-law and top star Ko Hyun Jung (고현정) from all of their department stores. Ko was granted no visitation rights after her divorce; she has been unable to see her two children for the past seven years.[7]