Shinsegae (Korean: 신세계; Hanja: 新世界; lit. new world, KRX: 004170) is a South Korean department storefranchise, 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.
Main store in Seoul in the Japanese Colonial period, when it was a branch of Tokyo's Mitsukoshi
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.
The Daejeon store opened in 2021 is rather unique as it is a combination of department store, to a limited extent a shopping center, together with a art and science-oriented cultural facilities, a hotel and office space.
The 284,224 m2 (3,059,360 sq ft), complex, costing 600 billion won (500,000,000 USD), consists of Podium department store area, and Tower. 88,572 m2 (953,380 sq ft) are dedicated to department store sales area.[5]
Podium
Podium includes:[6]
Food Hall in the basement
Main floor (62,500 sq ft (5,810 m2)) housing luxury accessory brands including Fendi, Bottega Veneta, and Saint Laurent as well as jewelry and over 40 beauty brands like Gucci Beauty and Clé de Peau Beauté. According to Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates, the designers, the vision was to create a "Grand Hall inspired by an early modern Italian villa in the spirit of such great Italian architects like Luigi Moretti and Carlo Scarpa" by reinterpreting classic design elements such as vaulted ceilings using bone-white plaster and custom decorative light pendants highlighting the circulation paths. The flooring "reimagines" an Italianate mosaic floor but with a contemporary pattern using contra black and Veneto white marble slabs.
Second Floor (57,000 sq ft (5,300 m2)), selling men’s and women’s luxury brand fashions, also designed by Hutchison, with the theme "A Contemporary Sculpture Park", inspired by the sculptural works of Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, and the cubist works of Georges Braque. The women's area features Nairobi black marble on the floor, bone-white hand plaster sculptural elements on the walls, ceilings, and exaggerated columns to provide an "intimate yet inviting" environment. The men's area was designed to feel "sculptural", "masculine" and contemporary with blonde oak wood walls, a dimensional ceiling, and sequoia brown marble tiles on the floor, accenting asymmetrical patterns of the space.
Third floor, fashions; Fourth floor: sports, golf, and outdoor; underwear; children's;[7]
Fifth floor, Verona Street food hall themed as a street in Verona, Italy[7]
Tower
The Tower building, 43 stories and 193 meters high, includes:[8]
171-room hotel on 11 floors
Art Space 193, a 193-metre-high observatory featuring artist Ólafur Elíasson's colourful installation The Living Observatory
Shinsegae Nexperium, a science museum focusing on robots, biotechnology, and space, created in collaboration with KAIST research university
Daejeon Expo Aquarium, a media art combined aquarium, featuring a 4,200-metric-ton tank filled with approx. 20,000 fish of 250 different species. It combines multimedia art based on the theme of Poseidon, the god of the sea in Greek mythology.
Other facilities
The complex also includes (it is unclear in which section):[9][10]
a Lego Shop
a Dolby Cinema Megabox 7-screen, 943-seat multicinema
the Shinsegae Academy with educational content via an online lecture platform and mobile system
the Shinsegae Gallery, an art exhibition space that attracts numerous customers
on the 6th floor, a panoramic glass window cabinet gallery & art terrace overlooks Gapcheon
the Hella fun City Daejeon municipal public relations Center
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.
Daejeon Style Market in E-Mart Daejeon Terminal Complex branch, Dong-gu, Daejeon
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)[26]
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.[27] 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.[28]
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.[30]
^Farfan, Barbara (8 December 2018). "What Is the World's Largest Retail Store?". Small Business. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
^"E-Land in talk to sell stores to Tesco South Korea unit". Reuters. 2008-05-14.
^"Elegance rules in Shinsegae's new temple of earthly joy". Korea JoongAng Daily.
^ a bJeong Se-Young (14 December 2017). "대전 사이언스 콤플렉스 사업 속도 붙어" [Speed of Completion of the Daejeon Science Complex]. No Cut News ("Nationwide") (in Korean). Retrieved 6 December 2023.
^Hutchison, Jeffrey. "Shinsegae Daejeon Art & Science". Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^ a b"Introduce | Daejeon Art & Science - Shinsegae Department Store". Shinsengae. Shinsengae. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
^"Daejeon: Daejeon Shinsegae Art & Science department store opening". superfuture®. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^"Experience Daejeon Shinsegae Art & Science (대전신세계) - the city's largest department store!". WalkintoKorea - Your Glocal Partner (in Korean). 19 November 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^"대전관광". daejeontour.co.kr. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
^"Shinsegae Department Store - Centum City Branch | 신세계백화점(부산 센텀시티점) : TRIPPOSE". Trippose - Korea Travel. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^"Busan Mall Gets Guinness Listing as World's Biggest". The Chosun Ilbo. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
^"Shinsegae 百 Yeongdeungpo Branch Reopens "Western Commercial District No. 1". 아이뉴스24 (in Korean). 2009-09-09. Retrieved 2023-06-14.
^"Shinsegae Department Store, Uijeongbu". World Architecture News. 15 June 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^"Shinsegae Department Store - Main Branch". Trippose - Korea Travel. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^"Shinsegae Department Store - Yeongdeungpo Branch". Trippose - Korea Travel. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^"Shinsegae Department Store - Gangnam". Trippose - Korea Travel. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^"Shinsegae Department Store - Masan". Trippose - Korea Travel. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
^"Shinsegae Department Store - Gwangju".
^Bark, chang ook (2010-01-27). "SSG, Entering Cheonan..Business partnership with Yauri Department Store". Money Today (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
^Lim, jeong hwan (2010-01-29). "Cheonan Yauri百 → Shinsegae百 Change Company Name". 대전일보 (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-06-14.
^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.
^"Shinsegae bets big on rooftop entertainment". Korea JoongAng Daily. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
