Shinsegae

Shinsegae Department Co., Ltd.
주식회사 신세계
株式會社新世界

Type	Chaebol
Industry	Retail
Founded	1955 (1955)
Headquarters	63 Sogong-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Area served	South Korea
Key people	Lee Myung Hee, (Chairman) Chung Yong-jin, (CEO and Vice Chairman)
Revenue	KRW 1,430,6 billion
Operating income	KRW 213,9 billion
Net income	KRW 3,381,9 billion
Total assets	KRW 370 billion
Total equity	KRW 1,910,2 billion
Subsidiaries	E-mart
Website	Shinsegae English

Republic of Korea Gwangju Shinsegae

Shinsegae (Korean: 신세계, KRX: 004170) is a South Korean department store franchise, along with several other businesses, headquartered 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 Macy's flagship Herald Square in New York City in 2009.

Shinsegae was originally part of the Samsung Group chaebol, 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.

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; 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. The old building is currently used as a luxury shopping venue.

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

Stores

• 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
• Yeongdeungpo Store (Building A, Building B & Luxury Hall) (영등포점 A관, B관, 명품관) in Times Square, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
• Incheon Store (인천점) in Nam-gu, Incheon
• Gyeonggi Store (경기점) in Suji-gu, Yong-in, Gyeonggi-do (Changed its name from Jukjeon Store on October 26, 2009)
• Shinsegae Centum City (신세계 센텀시티) in Centum City, Hae-undae-gu, Busan (the world's largest department store)
• Masan Store (마산점) in Masan-Happo-gu, Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do
• Gwangju Shinsegae (광주신세계) in Seo-gu, Gwangju
• Chungcheong Store (충청점) in Dongnam-gu, Cheon-an, 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

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

Shinsegae has launched 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.

• Seongnam Style Market in E-Mart Taepyeong branch, Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do
• 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
• Daegu Store (대구점) in Dong-gu, Daegu (scheduled for 2014)
• Hanam Store (하남점) in Hanam, Gyeonggi-do
• Gimhae Store (김해점) in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do

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)

Discount store

E-Mart (이마트) is a subsidiary of Shinsegae and a large discount store chain founded in South Korea, having 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. All of the country's Wal-Mart outlets were re-branded as E-Mart on 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.

Subsidiaries

• E-Mart
• Shinsegae I&C
• Shinsegae Chelsea
• Shinsegae Construction
• Shinsegae Food System
• Shinsegae International
• Starbucks Coffee Korea
• Johnny Rockets
• Westin Chosun Hotel
• With Me

Controversies

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

See also

• Westin Chosun Hotel
• Samsung
• Lotte
• Hyundai Department Store Group
• Home Plus

External links

• Shinsegae Homepage
• Shinsegae E-Mart Homepage
• Shinsegae to take over Wal-Mart in Korea
• Shinsegae : Official Seoul City Tourism